Hitler and the Nazis promoted hate and terror,
and its purpose was to free Germany from outside influence. It
was to be a Germany, for Germans. A Germany that would be the
centre for an Aryan empire, and the German people it was said,
were the natural descendants of that mythological race. All those
that were not considered Aryan became targets for Nazi persecution
and hatred.
Hitler used these groups as 'scapegoats', and
these scapegoats would be blamed for Germany's current position.
These people were easy targets for the Nazi propaganda and terror
machines. They targeted groups such as homosexuals, the disabled,
nomads, communists and Jews. Of this group the Jews were the largest
and easily identified. All that were not Aryan were considered
'Enemies of the State', and the Nazis went to great lengths to
purify the state of their enemies.
The Nazi party orchestrated a 'culture revolution'
with organized ritual book burnings, which was an attempt to cleanse
the German culture of outside influence and ideas.
By January 1934, after one full year under Hitler
control the path had been established. There was no free press,
Jews had been expunged from the civil service, party political
parties and Trade Unions had been abolished, and the concentration
camps were full with 'enemies of the state'.
Hitler's grip on power was by now well established,
most of his enemies had been silenced. But he also felt his power
under threat from those around him within the Nazi party.
On the night of June 30th, 1934, Hitler eliminated
that threat. In what is known as "The night of the long knives",
the SS (Blackshirts:Hitler's bodyguards), arrested and murdered
all those Hitler believed to be a threat to his power, including
those that were part of the SA. The SA (Sturmabteilungen) were
Hitler's weapon of terror on the populace, they were also know
as 'Brownshirts' or Stormtroopers, and its leaders were considered
untrustworthy.
In November 1938, a young Jewish man murdered
a German diplomat in Paris and this event alone caused massive
retribution on the Jewish community in Germany. In Germany it
sparked an excuse for the mob to take the streets, in a well organized
party riot, led by the Brown shirts (SA). Jewish properties were
the target, which included businesses, homes and religious centres.
Synagogues were destroyed and burnt. Shops looted and smashed.
It became known as 'Kristallnacht' (Crystal Night), a description
of the mobs devastation, and the amount of broken glass from the
targeted Jewish shops and property.
But this would be just a prelude, the fate for
the 'enemies of the state' had been decided for the near future.
Expulsion of these 'enemies' to relocation sites will be part
of Hitler's 'Final Solution', and instead of relocation sites
their destiny will be the massive network of concentration camps
and gas chambers.
