Jews
The European Jewish population suffered massively at the hands of Nazi Germany in the 1940s, losing roughly six million individuals throughout the war. Although anti-Semitism had become common with the rise of the NSDAP, it was not until 1939 and the German invasion of Poland that discriminatory policy regarding Jews became prevalent.
The books presented here were published between 1939 and 1944 – the years in which anti-Semitism was at an all-time high in Germany. The authors invariably present a demeaning view of Jews and their history, preferring instead to list the many “crimes” of the Jewish community against the remaining European population. There is no discussion of Hitler’s “Final Solution,” yet each volume presents a frank evaluation of the Jewish population and the evils it produces in society.
Das Judentum als Weltproblem. München: Amt. Lichtbild der Reichspropagandaleitung, 1944.
The subtitle of this book translates as “The Curse of the Jews,” and the contents provide a listing of prominent Jewish individuals throughout the world. The NSDAP used this volume, published in 1944, as a warning to the German population about the evils of the Jews and a justification of the Holocaust through an explanation of the troubles the Jewish people brought upon the world.
Heinz Ballensiefen
Juden in Frankreich. Berlin: Nordland-Verlag, 1939.
Juden in Frankreich gives a brief overview of French history in terms of the Jewish members of their society, and discusses Jewish participation in French theater, academia, and literature.