Nazi policy towards
minorities and opposition

Nazi persecution of the Jews

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Nazi persecution of Homosexuals

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Nazi persecution of the Gypsies

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Nazi persecution of the Disabled

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Nazi persecution of the 'work-shy'

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Nazi persecution of Childless Citizens

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Nazi persecution of the Church

Hitler believed that the Church was a threat to his power, so he was keen to control the Churches, to centralise the Church power and to then later abolish the Church, as planned under Volksgemeinschaft. His actions varied by branch of the Church. 

For the Catholic Church, Hitler signed the Reichskonkordat and agreed not to interfere with the Church if they stayed out of politics. Despite this, he broke the agreement a short few months after making it. The Nazis shut down Catholic monasteries, schools and organisations and Priests were harassed. Those that criticised the Nazis were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Pope Pius XI was angered by this and made a famous speech called "With Burning Grief" criticising the Nazis. This resulted in the arrests of 400 Catholic Priests who were also sent to concentration camps.

With regards to the Protestant Church, the 28 Protestant Churches were pressured to agree to combine with the National Reich Church, with the Reich Bishop being Nazi — Ludwig Muller. The Reich Church was a Church in which the Bible was replaced by Hitler’s autobiography — Mein Kampf — and crucifixes were replaced by Swastikas and swords. The Protestants who disliked the changes to the Church created the Confessing Church which rejected the new Nazi Reich Church beliefs.

Nazi persecution of the Jews in the Holocaust

Nazi deportation of Gypsies and Romani in Yugoslavia.

Many children (and adults) with physical/mental disabilities were persecuted.

This image shows the public execution of Polish priests and civilians

The Nazis forced the work-shy (and other minorities) into concentration camps to carry out forced, manual labour. 

The Lebensborn programme promoted having many children– for aryan couples– in order to increase the aryan population. The image shows baptism by the SS at a Lebensborn maternity care home. 

Homosexuals were forced to wear pink triangles in concentration camps to identify them.