The Nature and Influence of Racism in Germany 1933-1939

The night of the broken glass was a riot against Jews on the 9th and 10th of November 1938. The riots are more commonly known as pogroms and the night of the broken glass was the first pogrom initiated and more were promoted during the holocaust. The night of the broken glass was initiated by the assassination of a German diplomat by a German-born Polish Jew. The result of the night of broken glass was around 90 Jewish killed, 200 synagogues burned and around 25,000 to 30,000 Jews sent to concentration camps. The influence of the pogrom of 1938 was directed towards the German persecution of Jews. The mistreatment of Jews had stepped up a level from social, economic and political abuse to actual physical abuse. That is instead of attacking the Jewish businesses for example the Jews themselves were being attacked and their business destroyed. This was done using the Nazi stormtroopers and Hitler’s SS while the policemen and firemen stood by and let it happen. The night of the broken glass was a huge event dealing with racism in Germany. It was the landmark event that led to the physical abuse of Jews and a general view between historians is that it led to the start of the holocaust

Hitler and his Nazi party strongly believed in the use of propaganda. Hitler’s minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels was a devout anti-Semitist and was the architect of many of the attacks against Jews such as the burning of the books and in particular the night of the broken glass. Goebbels believed that he could make the German people believe anything if he repeated it enough, and using this and other propaganda techniques he was able to justify the Nazi obsession with anti-Semitism. One method of propaganda was the indoctrination of youth for example school syllabuses were changed to teach about Nazism. Goebbel’s use of propaganda was not only limited to racism against Jews but also in combating competing parties such as the socialists and communists. Goebels influenced the German people heavily using his convincing propaganda and helped the Nazis come into power while justifying the anti-Semitic views.

The nature and influence of racism in 1933 to 1939 was widespread. The Nazis created it for their benefit using racist propaganda to come into power and attempting the creation of their Herrenvolk race. Racism in Germany escalated until in 1938 when it became physical abuse of the Jews by the Nazis.