How did Nazi persecution of the Jews escalate into the Holocaust?
Persecution and the Holocaust: Nazi racial ideology, the 1933 boycott, the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, Kristallnacht in 1938, the ghettos and the Final Solution.
A focused CCEA GCSE History guide to Nazi persecution and the Holocaust. Covers Nazi racial ideology, the 1933 boycott of Jewish shops, the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, Kristallnacht in 1938, the wartime ghettos, the killing squads and the Final Solution in which around six million Jews were murdered.
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What this dot point is asking
You need to explain how Nazi persecution of the Jews escalated from discrimination into the Holocaust: the part played by racial ideology, the 1933 boycott, the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, Kristallnacht in 1938, and the wartime ghettos and Final Solution. CCEA examiners reward a clear sense of the steps by which persecution intensified and an understanding of how Nazi ideology and the war combined to make mass murder possible. This is a topic to handle with care and precision.
Nazi racial ideology
The steps of persecution before the war
Persecution intensified in stages through the 1930s.
- 1933. A boycott of Jewish shops was organised, and Jews were removed from the civil service, the professions and universities.
- 1935. The Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews of German citizenship and banned marriage and relationships between Jews and non-Jews, making discrimination part of the law.
- 1938. On the night of 9 to 10 November 1938, Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass), synagogues were burned and Jewish shops and homes attacked across Germany; many Jews were killed and around 30,000 were sent to concentration camps.
By the outbreak of war in 1939, Jews had been driven out of public life, robbed of citizenship and rights, and subjected to organised violence.
From the war to the Final Solution
The Second World War transformed persecution into mass murder.
- After the invasion of Poland in 1939, large Jewish populations came under Nazi control, and Jews were forced into overcrowded, walled ghettos where many died of starvation and disease.
- After the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, mobile killing squads (Einsatzgruppen) shot huge numbers of Jews behind the front line.
- From 1941 to 1942 the Nazis adopted the Final Solution, the systematic murder of Europe's Jews in purpose-built death camps such as Auschwitz.
Examples in context
Model escalation paragraph. "Nazi persecution escalated step by step, driven by racial ideology and made possible by the war. It began in 1933 with the boycott of Jewish shops and the removal of Jews from jobs, then hardened in 1935 when the Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews of citizenship and outlawed mixed marriages. In 1938 Kristallnacht added organised violence, with synagogues burned and thousands sent to camps. The war then transformed persecution into murder: ghettos in occupied Poland, killing squads in the USSR, and from 1941 to 1942 the Final Solution in death camps such as Auschwitz, in which around six million Jews were killed. Each step went further than the last, from discrimination, through violence, to genocide." This scores highly because it traces the escalation precisely and explains the role of ideology and war.
Try this
Q1. What did the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 do? [2 marks]
- Cue. They stripped Jews of German citizenship and banned marriage and relationships between Jews and non-Jews.
Q2. What happened during Kristallnacht in November 1938? [2 marks]
- Cue. Synagogues were burned and Jewish shops and homes attacked across Germany, with around 30,000 Jews sent to camps.
Q3. What was the Final Solution and roughly how many Jews were murdered? [3 marks]
- Cue. The systematic murder of Europe's Jews in death camps from 1941 to 1942; around six million Jews were killed.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of CCEA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
CCEA Unit 1 (style)9 marksExplain how Nazi persecution of the Jews escalated between 1933 and 1942.Show worked answer →
A causation and change question testing AO1 and AO2. Show the steps and how each went further.
1933: the boycott of Jewish shops and the removal of Jews from the civil service began the persecution.
1935: the Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews of German citizenship and banned marriage between Jews and non-Jews.
1938: Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, saw synagogues and Jewish shops attacked and Jews arrested across Germany.
Wartime: after the invasions of Poland and the USSR, Jews were forced into ghettos and then murdered by killing squads and in the death camps of the Final Solution.
Judgement: argue that persecution escalated step by step from discrimination, through violence, to mass murder, driven by Nazi racial ideology and made possible by the war.
CCEA Unit 1 (style)8 marksHow useful is Source D about Kristallnacht?Show worked answer →
A usefulness question testing AO3. Judge origin, purpose and content.
Content: tie the source to what you know of Kristallnacht in November 1938, when synagogues and shops were attacked.
Origin and purpose: a Nazi source is useful for showing how the regime presented the violence; an eyewitness or foreign report is useful for revealing the reality and reaction.
Judgement: argue the source is useful for revealing its author's viewpoint and purpose, even if one-sided, and note its limits.
Related dot points
- Consolidation of power: the Reichstag Fire, the Enabling Act of 1933, the end of other parties, the Night of the Long Knives and the death of Hindenburg in 1934.
A focused CCEA GCSE History guide to how Hitler consolidated power. Covers Hitler becoming Chancellor in 1933, the Reichstag Fire, the Enabling Act, the banning of other parties and trade unions, the Night of the Long Knives, and the death of Hindenburg that made Hitler Fuhrer in 1934.
- The police state and terror: the SS, the Gestapo, concentration camps, the Nazi control of the courts, and the role of informers in keeping Germans in line.
A focused CCEA GCSE History guide to the Nazi police state. Covers the SS under Himmler, the Gestapo secret police, concentration camps, the Nazi takeover of the courts and judges, and the role of informers and fear in keeping Germans in line.
- Propaganda and culture: Goebbels and the Ministry of Propaganda, radio, film, rallies and the press, the cult of the Fuhrer, and Nazi control of the arts and the Churches.
A focused CCEA GCSE History guide to Nazi propaganda and culture. Covers Goebbels and the Ministry of Propaganda, the use of radio, film, rallies and a censored press, the cult of the Fuhrer, Nazi control of art and culture, and the policy towards the Churches.
- Young people and women: the Hitler Youth and League of German Girls, the Nazi school curriculum, the three Ks for women and the reversal of policy during the war.
A focused CCEA GCSE History guide to Nazi policy towards young people and women. Covers the Hitler Youth and League of German Girls, the rewritten school curriculum, the three Ks ideal for women, the Marriage Loan and motherhood medals, and how the war reversed the policy on women's work.
Sources & how we know this
- CCEA GCSE History specification — CCEA (2017)