Before the Holocaust : Antisemitic violence and the reaction of German elites and institutions during the Nazi takeover / Hermann Beck.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Beck, Hermann, author.

Series:

Oxford Academic

Oxford scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

National socialism.

Antisemitism.

Totalitarianism.

Jews--Persecutions.

Jews.

Holocaust survivors.

Jews--Intellectual life.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (560 pages) : illustrations (colour)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Oxford Oxford University Press, [2022]

Summary:

This book revises standard assumptions among historians of Nazi Germany that physical violence against Jews slowly accelerated from 1933 onwards, with a first high point in November 1938 ("Kristallnacht"), and then further escalating to deportations and the mass murder of the Holocaust. Based on documentary evidence from about twenty German archives, the present work shows that there were many hundreds, possibly thousands, of violent attacks on Jews in Germany ranging from brutal assaults, abductions, and expulsions to murder. The work examines in detail the reaction of those German institutions and elites that were still in a position to react and protest in the spring of 1933. It makes two essentially new contributions to the literature on the history of the Third Reich: (1) a detailed examination of the antisemitic violence-from boycotts, violent attacks, robbery, extortion, abductions, and humiliating "pillory marches" to grievous bodily harm and murder-which has hitherto not been adequately recognized; (2) an analysis of the reactions of those institutions that still had the capacity to protest against Nazi attacks and legislative measures-the Protestant Church, the Catholic Church, the bureaucracies, and Hitler's conservative coalition partner, the DNVP-and the mindset of the elites who led them, to determine their various responses to flagrant antisemitic abuses. Individual protests against violent attacks, the April boycott, and Nazi legislative measures were already hazardous in March and April 1933, but established institutions in the German State and society were still able to voice their concerns and raise objections. By doing so, they might have stopped or at least postponed a radicalization that eventually led to the pogrom of 1938 and the Holocaust.

Contents:

List of Abbreviations

List of Archives

Introduction

The Search for Archival Evidence

The Wider Implications: Which Institutions Were in a Position to Help?

Overview of Contents

Previous Literature on Antisemitic Violence in 1933

Part 1. Violence of foreign jews

1. Violence against "Ostjuden" in the Winter and Spring of 1933

A Few Statistics

A Litany of Violent Attacks in Early 1933

Economic Damage and Ruin

Rituals of Humiliation

Abduction and Forced Deportation

Grievous Bodily Harm and Murder

2. "Ostjuden" as Predetermined Targets: a History of Marginalization

Roots of Prejudice

Stigmatization and Violence during the Weimar Republic

The Difficult Path to Citizenship

The Policies of the NSDAP-DNVP Coalition Government

German Jews and "Ostjuden"

3. Attacks against American and West European Jews, among Others

Attacks on American Nationals

Attacks on West European, Czech, and Rumanian Jews

Part II: vilence against German Jews

4. Violent Attacks

Antisemitic Violence in the Weimar Republic

Documentary Evidence for Crimes against Jews

Forcible Expulsion through Violence and Threats

Attacks in Jail and on Jewish Livestock Dealers

5. Pillory Marches and the Perfidy Decree

Pillory Marches

The Perfidy Decree

6. Murder

Categories of Anti-Jewish Murder

The "Spontaneous" Murder

Murder while in Custody

The Planned Murder

7. Boycott

Boycott Movements before 1 April 1933

Global Protests and Boycotts against Germany

The Boycott of 1 April 1933

Psychological Implications of the Boycott

Continuation of the Boycott Movement

8. Legal and Economic Discrimination

The Antisemitic Legislation of April 1933

The Law on the Restoration of a Professional Civil Service

The Law on Admission to Legal Practice

The Decree on the Admission of Physicians to the Statutory Health Insurance System

The Law against the Overcrowding of German Schools and Universities

Impact of the April Legislation

Economic Discrimination

Other Discriminatory Measures

Part III. Reactions to Antisemitic violence

9. The Protestant Church and the "Jewish Question:" the Church as Conscience of the Nation

Fragmentation and Efforts to Form a Unified Organizational Structure

The Church as a Moral Authority

The Church in Politics: Interconnections with the DNVP

The Church and Politics at the End of the Weimar Republic.

Political Groupings within the Church

After 30 January 1933: a "Church-friendly National Socialism"

10. Protestant Church Leaders and the "Jewish Question:"

Conscience Betrayed

Foreign Reactions

Church Reactions to Foreign Protests

The Church and the Boycott of 1 April 1933

Church Reactions to Pleas for Help and Reports of Discrimination

Letter Exchanges between Wilhelm Menn and Ernst Stoltenhoff

Growing Consensus with the Regime

Otto Dibelius's Position on Antisemitism and his Relationship to the New State

11. The Protestant Church between Action and Silence

The World Alliance for International Friendship Through the Churches and the Situation in Germany

The Protestant Churches under Pressure: Prelude to the 26 April Meeting

Church Leaders on the "Judenfrage:" Opinions and Comments

The Memorandum on the "Judenfrage"

12. The German Catholic Church between Doctrine and Self-Preservation

Before 30 January 1933

After 30 January 1933

The Church, the April Boycott, and Intervention on Behalf of Jews

13. Reactions of the German Administrative and Judicial Bureaucracy

Officials Minimize Attacks

Fabricated Charges against Victims

Antisemitic Attacks and the Reaction of the Judicial Bureaucracy

. Reactions of Hitler's Conservative Coalition Partner

The DNVP and the "Jewish Question" during the Weimar Republic

The DNVP and National-minded German Jews in March 1933

Protests by Members of the DNVP and Active Help

The Boycott and Völkisch Antisemitism

Lacking Determination and Fearing to Decide

Epilogue: How Could it Happen?

Bibliography

Acknowledgements

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description based on Publisher website; title from home page (viewed on June 08, 2022)

ISBN:

0-19-268851-0

0-19-268850-2

0-19-195553-1

OCLC:

1393306572

Publisher Number:

10.1093/oso/9780192865076.001.0001 DOI