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Prelude to the Holocaust: Segregation in Schools
Action

Segregation in schools began in April 1933 when the “Law Against Overcrowding in German schools” was enacted and a restriction was set allowing only 1.5 percent of Jewish children to be enrolled in public schools, this being a problem because 5 percent of the children in Germany were of Jewish descent. It continued to get worse as German schools began to Aryanize. Jewish children were required to “learn” from different sources then their fellow classmates. Also being subjected to worse grades then their Aryan peers whether or not their work was better. The Jewish children were not allowed to participate in most school activities, causing many to feel left out and segregate by children they once were friends with. As time progressed most teachers became more enthusiastic about following the rules of Nazism and went from being quieter in their beliefs to using anti-Semitic terms in class. Poor treatment of Jewish children was more common in rural schools but even in large cities they faced animosity from their teachers and fellow classmates.

Reaction

This led to Jewish students feeling distant from their classmates and had different effects on different families. Some Jewish children began to form small strikes in their schools leaving without permission during hate speak during class, others tried to conform with no success, and some parents just took their children out of school. Many mothers were horrified to find out that their children were being emotionally and physically attacked by their classmates and teachers for being Jewish. Mothers were more likely to take their children out of school then fathers, seeing and hearing from their children the majority of what actually happened at school.

Eventually Jewish schools were built and the Jewish community jumped at the idea of their children being taught without fear of persecution, shown that only fourteen percent of Jewish children went to private school in 1932 to fifty-two percent in 1936. While most were happy that their children could learn, many parents feared that this is what the Nazi party wanted all along, segregation of the Jewish community from the Aryan community.