‘Race was God in the Third Reich’. Discuss this statement particularly with reference to the
non-Jewish population and give examples to illustrate your answer.
When one thinks of race in the Third Reich our mind tends to wander to the persecution of
the Jewish Population. The harrowing account of Anne Frank. A young girl whose story has
bled the hearts of the world population for generations. However, perhaps a story we do not
hear about during World War Two commemoration events is the narrative of those who were
of the non-Jewish population. Yet still faced persecution as a result of their race in the Third
Reich.
Our first point will centre on the persecution of Black people during the Third Reich. A
narrative we have perhaps not heard about as frequently as it is not associated with the mass
execution of that of other races. Yet many people of biracial and afro-German origins
(commonly referred to as “Rhineland Bastards”) faced a daunting level of abuse both during
the Holocaust and the course of the Third Reich,
“Although the Nazis did not have an organized program to eliminate African
Germans, many of them were persecuted, as were other people of African descent.
Some Black people in Germany and German-occupied territories were isolated; an
unknown number were sterilized, incarcerated or murdered The Nazis, at the time a
small political movement, viewed the “Rhineland Bastards” as a threat to the purity of
the Germanic race. In his autobiography, Mein Kampf (My Struggle), Hitler charged
that “the Jews had brought the Negroes into the Rhineland with the clear aim of
1
, ruining the hated white race by the necessarily-resulting bastardization. African
German mulatto (a person of mixed white and Black ancestry) children were
marginalized in German society, isolated socially and economically, and not allowed
to attend university. Racial discrimination prohibited them from seeking most jobs,
including service in the military. With the Nazi rise to power, they became a target of
racial and population policy. By 1937, the Gestapo had secretly rounded up and
forcibly sterilized many of them. Some were subjected to medical experiments; others
mysteriously “disappeared.” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2020).
What can be described as striking about this information is the clear prejudice against Black
people before the atrocities of the Third Reich. Giving the impression, that similar to the.
Jewish population, once Hitler did rise to power, he had every intention of sub missing Black
people to the same maltreatment as the Jewish population. However, perhaps the public hate
campaign in Germany was not as prominent against Black people as it was against the Jewish
population. For example, the public idea of the Jewish population being responsible for
Germany’s loss in the First World War. This may account for the more discreet methodology
in persecuting the Black population in Nazi Germany. Which in turn may account for why as
young people we were not taught about the persecution of Black people when first introduced
to the history of The Third Reich. As this may have been a campaign of subtle means, but
with equally cruel outcomes on par with that of other races during this time period.
Our next point will focus on the persecution of Polish people during the Third Reich. While
we may be aware of Germanys occupancy in Poland during World War Two, what one may
not be conscious of is the racial victimization experienced by the Poland population during
this occupancy. Showing that while “Race was God” in the Third Reich, this racial based
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non-Jewish population and give examples to illustrate your answer.
When one thinks of race in the Third Reich our mind tends to wander to the persecution of
the Jewish Population. The harrowing account of Anne Frank. A young girl whose story has
bled the hearts of the world population for generations. However, perhaps a story we do not
hear about during World War Two commemoration events is the narrative of those who were
of the non-Jewish population. Yet still faced persecution as a result of their race in the Third
Reich.
Our first point will centre on the persecution of Black people during the Third Reich. A
narrative we have perhaps not heard about as frequently as it is not associated with the mass
execution of that of other races. Yet many people of biracial and afro-German origins
(commonly referred to as “Rhineland Bastards”) faced a daunting level of abuse both during
the Holocaust and the course of the Third Reich,
“Although the Nazis did not have an organized program to eliminate African
Germans, many of them were persecuted, as were other people of African descent.
Some Black people in Germany and German-occupied territories were isolated; an
unknown number were sterilized, incarcerated or murdered The Nazis, at the time a
small political movement, viewed the “Rhineland Bastards” as a threat to the purity of
the Germanic race. In his autobiography, Mein Kampf (My Struggle), Hitler charged
that “the Jews had brought the Negroes into the Rhineland with the clear aim of
1
, ruining the hated white race by the necessarily-resulting bastardization. African
German mulatto (a person of mixed white and Black ancestry) children were
marginalized in German society, isolated socially and economically, and not allowed
to attend university. Racial discrimination prohibited them from seeking most jobs,
including service in the military. With the Nazi rise to power, they became a target of
racial and population policy. By 1937, the Gestapo had secretly rounded up and
forcibly sterilized many of them. Some were subjected to medical experiments; others
mysteriously “disappeared.” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2020).
What can be described as striking about this information is the clear prejudice against Black
people before the atrocities of the Third Reich. Giving the impression, that similar to the.
Jewish population, once Hitler did rise to power, he had every intention of sub missing Black
people to the same maltreatment as the Jewish population. However, perhaps the public hate
campaign in Germany was not as prominent against Black people as it was against the Jewish
population. For example, the public idea of the Jewish population being responsible for
Germany’s loss in the First World War. This may account for the more discreet methodology
in persecuting the Black population in Nazi Germany. Which in turn may account for why as
young people we were not taught about the persecution of Black people when first introduced
to the history of The Third Reich. As this may have been a campaign of subtle means, but
with equally cruel outcomes on par with that of other races during this time period.
Our next point will focus on the persecution of Polish people during the Third Reich. While
we may be aware of Germanys occupancy in Poland during World War Two, what one may
not be conscious of is the racial victimization experienced by the Poland population during
this occupancy. Showing that while “Race was God” in the Third Reich, this racial based
2
