The Foreshadows of World War II

Hitler Mobilizes Germany  

In January 1933, the German President, Hindenberg, named Adolph Hitler, leader of the National Socialist Party (Nazis), chancellor of Germany. Three months later, Hitler would be named dictator by the Reichstag. He immediately went about dismantling opposing political parties and placing all aspects of religious and cultural life under government control. Through an intensive propaganda campaign, the Nazi party set about to target the Jews as a scapegoat for the economic misery of Germany post-World War I. With Germany firmly under his control, Hitler then turned his attention to domination of all of Europe.

In 1935, Germany regained the Saar Valley and a year later the Rhineland. These two German regions had been taken away as part of the retributions after World War I. Then in March 1938, Hitler annexed Austria. Czechoslovakia was dismembered by Germany later that same year.  

Hitler’s Persecution and “Final Solution” for Europe’s Jews

Hitler and the Nazi party’s systematic persecution of the Jews began with the passing of the Nuremberg Laws in 1935. This legislation allowed for the removal of Jews, along with gypsies, political enemies, criminals, homosexuals, and other “racial inferiors” to concentration camps. The severe violence against the Jews continued to increase as Hitler’s aggressions mounted. In November 1938, Kristalnacht took place destroying Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues. As a result, 20 to 30,000 Jews were transported to German concentration camps. By 1945, eleven million men, women, and children had died under Hitler’s persecution, six million of them Jews.[1]

Above: Cover artwork from the Sept. 1941 Youngstown Jewish Times. Acc. No. JA87-52, MVHS Collection. 

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