 In 1933 there was a total of 9 million Jews.  By the end of the war 2/3 of those Jews would die.  Many Jews spoke Yiddish.  Many older Jews dressed traditionally-Men wearing hats or caps, and women covered their hair with wigs, or handkerchiefs.  They western population of Jews were more educated because they lived in bigger cities and their parents had better jobs.  Many eastern Jews made up less of the population, and they had to quit school to help their parents out with work.

 In September of 1791 Jews were emancipated in France. The National Assembly of France granted citizenship to those who took a loyalty oath. June 24, 1922 Walter Rathenauwas assassinated. He was the Jewish communities most important political leader. They blamed him for their loss of WWI. March 9, 1936 a violent outbreak they called a pogrom out broke. European countries took Jews refusal to think that Gods son was Jesus as arrogant They were blamed for the “Black Death” and in the late 1800’s and they murdered Jews and invaded their homes and stores.

In 1933, 500,000 Jews lived in Germany, many of them worked in government positions and taught in Germany's universities. On April 1, 1933, the Nazis carried out the first planned action against Jews: a boycott of Jewish businesses. the boycott was an act of revenge against German Jews and foreigners. Nazis stood in front of Jewish-owned shops and businesses The nationwide boycott had little success and lasted a day Later the German government passed a law restricting employment in the civil service to "Aryans."

The laws excluded German Jews from citizenship and prohibited them from marrying those with German or related blood. The race laws define a Jew as anyone who had three or four Jewish grandparents, they did not define a Jew as someone with particular religious beliefs. Even those with Jewish grandparents who had converted to Christianity were defined as Jews the Nazi regime stopped its anti-Jewish attacks, removing signs saying "Jews Unwelcome” weeks before the 1936 Olympic games the Nazis did not allow German Jewish athletes to participate the government impoverished Jews, requiring them to register their property and by Aryanizing all Jewish businesses. Everyone was required to carry identity cards, but the government added special identifying marks to the Jews: a red "J" stamped on them and new middle names

On November 9, 1938, the Nazi party members are gathered in commemoration of the abortive Nazi Putsch of 1923 (Adolf Hitler’s first attempt to seize power). After the speech given to the Nazi party by the German propaganda minister, Nazi officials order the Storm Troopers (SA) and other party formations to attack Jews and to destroy their homes, businesses, and houses of worship. The violence against Jews lasts into the morning hours of November 10th, and becomes known as Kristallnacht--the "Night of Broken Glass." Several dozen Jews lose their lives and tens of thousands are arrested and sent to concentration camps.

On the night of November 9, 1938, violence against Jews broke out across the Reich. It appeared to be unplanned, set off by Germans' anger over the assassination of a German official in Paris at the hands of a Jewish teenager. In fact, German propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and other Nazis carefully organized the pogroms. In two days, over 250 synagogues were burned, over 7,000 Jewish businesses were trashed and looted, dozens of Jewish people were killed, and Jewish cemeteries, hospitals, schools, and homes were looted while police and fire brigades stood by. The pogroms became known as Kristallnacht, the "Night of Broken Glass," for the shattered glass from the store windows that littered the streets.

The morning after the pogroms 30,000 German Jewish men were arrested for the "crime" of being Jewish and sent to concentration camps, where hundreds of them perished. Some Jewish women were also arrested and sent to local jails. Businesses owned by Jews were not allowed to reopen unless they were managed by non-Jews. Curfews were placed on Jews, limiting the hours of the day they could leave their homes.

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