Historical Background
Once Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power, the expulsion of all Jewish people from Germany became a priority for the dictatorship. The Nazis played on the popular anti-Semitic views held by many German citizens and launched a propaganda campaign promoting anti-Jewish measures. Municipal governments throughout Germany began to implement these measures by restricting access to municipal facilities. In May 1935, Jewish men were banned from joining the armed forces. In September, the Nuremberg Laws were passed. These laws declared that Jewish people were no longer citizens of Germany and deprived them of their basic rights.
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In 1936, Jews were prevented from holding professional jobs and many Jewish businesses were denied government contracts. The year of 1938 saw even more restrictions. Aryan doctors were forbidden to treat Jewish patients, which severely limited access to medical care for Jewish people as Jewish doctors had already been banned from practicing. Jewish children were no longer allowed to attend state-run schools.
After World War II began, most of the Jewish population in Germany was gradually put into ghettos and eventually shipped off to death camps. Mass deportations of Jewish people had already been carried out in many areas across the country. By 1942, only 51,237 Jewish people still remained in Germany. They were mostly concentrated in large cities such as Berlin, due to the forced labour employment of almost 40% (20,406) in factories and industries related to the war effort. With Germany in a state of total war, the Nazis wanted to remove all Jews from the armaments industry and deport all remaining Jewish labourers. The deadline for this final deportation was set for 31 March 1943.
Jewish forced labourers.
At the beginning of 1943, there were 16,760 German people living in a 'mixed marriage' or a marriage where one member of the couple was an Aryan and the other was a Jew. About half of these couples resided in Berlin and many were employed in forced labour in the city's factories. Though the ultimate goal of the Nazi Party was the deportation of all Jews, Jewish spouses in mixed marriages were afforded some protection due to their Aryan connection. This did not mean the Nazis were prepared to overlook them entirely however. In April 1942, the Reich's main security office declared that even “half-Jews who were involved with Aryans” were highly likely to “upset the public” and cause problems within the general population. The issue of what to do with Jewish people living in mixed marriages would reappear during the Factory Action of 1943.