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A Historic Analog - Nazi 1930s Violence Against Jews
Nazis institutionalized violence to solidify power and establish despotic rule. The Gestapo and SS enforced it against declared enemies of the state, including communists, social democrats, gypsies, homosexuals, and, of course, Jews.
After the March 1933 elections, Nazis institutionalized violence. Riots in the Ruhr spread nationally. Jewish businesses, enterprises and stores were picketed. Handbills said: "Germans, don't buy at Jewish shops." SA stormtroopers broke into Jewish homes, mistreating and arresting occupants.
Hitler launched a nationwide boycott against Jewish enterprises, doctors and lawyers. Entrances to their establishments and offices were blocked. Anti-semitic graffiti was displayed and windows smashed. Racist propaganda institutionalized public anger against Jews as enemies of the Third Reich.
By 1935, they were publicly humiliated, banned from certain towns, and party activists assaulted the orthodox. Their beards were cut off and heads shaved to humiliate them and Judaism.
Racist legislation followed, including the infamous "Nuremberg Laws." More on them below. Landlords were forced to break leases with Jewish tenants. By 1936, harming Jews physically and using legal measures destructively against their businesses and livelihoods were commonplace.
By 1938, violence escalated. It intensified with the March Austrian Anschluss. A wave of anti-Jewish measures followed, aimed at Austrian Jews. Nazi policy enforced "Aryanizations," confiscations, arrests, and physical violence.
In November, the infamous Kristallnacht pogrom occurred. Hitler and Goebbels, Reich Minister of Propaganda, incited it.
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