What Was Life Like for People Living in Nazi Germany?
What was life like for people living in Nazi Germany? In Nazi Germany life for the Germans was terrible. You had to know who you could trust, as trusting the wrong person may cause you to loose your life. The Nazis and mainly Hitler really disliked Jews and anyone else that was not their perfect ‘Aryan’. Hitler and the Nazis came up with the Nazi Racial Policy, in 1933 to try and persuade Jews to emigrate there was the Boycott of Jewish shops.
Shop windows got Jewish symbols painted on them, members of the SA would stand outside to threaten shoppers and anyone who did go in the shops would have their name put on a list so the Nazis would know who was using the Jewish shops. Jews were banned from all state jobs such as civil servants, teachers, journalists, lawyers and even radio announcers. Jewish and non-Jewish children were not allowed to play together. All of this made life hard and not pleasant for the Jews, this is what Hitler wanted so that Jews would leave his beloved Germany.
The Nuremburg Laws was an important part to the way that Jews ran their life during Nazi Germany, the Nuremburg Laws consisted of things such as; Jews could not marry or have sex with non-Jews, all Jews lost German Citizenship; Jews were not allowed to own radios, typewriters or bicycles; Jews were not allowed to own their own buisnesses and were banned from going places such as the cinema, theatres or concert halls. They were not allowed to buy newspapers or magazines, nor were they allowed to attend school or college.
Male Jews were forced to add the name ‘Israel’ and female Jews the name ‘Sarah’, to their first names. These Nuremburg Laws restricted what Jews were allowed to do, a lot. Homosexuals were effected by the Nazis as well, they were seen as not fitting into ‘normal’ families, they were savagely persecuted. About 15,000 were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Many were used in medical experiments or they were castrated. Himmler was shocked to discover several homosexuals in the SS, they were sent to concentation camps and shot ‘whilst trying to escape’.
Political opponents were ‘undesirable’ to the Nazis because they were seen as a threat who shouldnt be here, habitual criminals were also ‘undesirable’ because they were seen as a burden and socially useless. In the Nazis eyes Jehovahs witness’s were ‘undesirable’ because their beliefs were different to the Nazis. Gypsy’s and Jews were also seen as ‘undesirable’ as they did not fit the Nazis ‘Aryans’ (blonde hair, blue eyes etc) Anyone who had more than one grandparent who themself was Jewish ou too were considered Jewish. This made life very restricted, if you were ‘undesirable’ then you were sent to a concentration camp, for anyone who was lucky enough not to be sent there but to be able to live in their home but by the Nazis rules. There was lots of violence in the streets and so much fear in the air. People were dragged out of their homes and taken away violently. Many people were beaten and sometimes killed in the streets.
This was a terrible ordeal for people living in Nazi Germany, even if you were not the ones being beaten, seeing your friends and neighbors being beaten would be torrible. Over 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis during Hitlers years in power. In conclusion life was terrible for people living in Nazi Germany, after Kristallnacht in November 1938 Jews were treated terribly and many were killed. Nazi Germany was a very dark time for the civilians. This was Hitlers aim; to make life hell for Jews and any ‘undesirables’.
