Persecution of Minorities – Hitler & the Jews
The Nazis aimed to improve the Aryan race using eugenics through euthanasia & sterilisation. They persecuted any group that challenged Nazi ideas. From 1934–1945, they sterilised 300,000 people. From 1939–1945, they killed 5,000 disabled babies & children, and from 1939–1941, they killed 72,000 mentally ill patients. Jews were blamed for Germany’s defeat in WWI. The 1935 Nuremberg Laws removed Jewish citizenship and banned marriage with pure-blooded Germans. Jews were barred from jobs in law, journalism & universities. In Nov 1938, Kristallnacht marked open violence against Jews. Later, under the Final Solution, Jews were forced into ghettos and then killed in death camps.