Weimar and Nazi Germany Topic Summaries

Nazi racial policy

GCSE > History > Eduqas > GCSE History: Weimar and Nazi Germany (1890-1945) > Nazi dictatorship (1933–1939) > Nazi racial policy
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Key Terms
  • Hitler wanted a pure Aryan state with other groups deemed inferior or undesirable. 
  • Anyone who did not fit into Aryan ideals was removed from society, first through intimidation and eventually through imprisonment, murder, and genocide.
  • This included:
    • Jews: the Nazis believed the Jews were to blame for all of Germany’s problems, making them the primary scapegoat of so many political, social, and economic grievances.
    • Slavs: were viewed as racially ‘inferior’ and used as forced labour. Many were abused or killed in occupied territories.
    • Roma and Sinti: were also persecuted for being ‘inferior’ and imprisoned with hundreds of thousands sent to concentration camps to be murdered.
    • Homosexuals: gay men were arrested and imprisoned as the Nazis believed homosexuality weakened German society and threatened their desire to grow the Aryan population. 
    • People with disabilities: were targeted in the ‘Aktion T4’ involuntary euthanasia programme which killed thousands of people as an act of ‘mercy’ because they were judged to be ‘life unworthy of life’ to their disabilities.
    • Political opponents: this included communists, social democrats, trade unionists etc. who opposed Nazi ideology and threatened Hitler’s totalitarian control.
    • Jehovah’s Witnesses: were persecuted for their religious beliefs which resisted obedience to Hitler and the Nazi state or serving in the army.

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