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Born Died 3 July: Andre Citroen, French motor car manufacturer Founded |
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| The Nuremburg Laws |
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The Nuremburg Laws, which withdrew the civil rights of Germany's 600,000 Jews (and later the millions of Jews in countries occupied by Germany), was just the first stage of Hitler's "final solution" to rid Europe of all its Jews. The original two measures, known as the Law of the Reich citizen and the Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour. They stripped Jews of German citizenship, barred them from practising a profession and prohibited them from holding any form of social relations with non-Jews. Existing marriages between Jews and non-Jews were made illegal; those who refused to divorce were imprisoned. This "racial purification" however, did not stop German soldiers from raping thousands of Jewish women, girls and boys. The Nuremberg Laws made Jews outcasts, and kept them out of jobs. Anti-Jew propaganda through radio, newspapers, textbooks and speeches reinforced the idea. Following this, few Germans would protest when the Jews were forced to sell off their homes, property and businesses at unfair prices. Fewer would speak out when entire Jewish families disappeared in the middle of the day or night, never to return. |
