Daniel Half Human By David Chotjewitz

Public beatings. Legal racial discrimination. Suffocating fear and paranoia. Daniel Kraushaar witnessed all of those things in the book Daniel Half Human by David Chotjewitz, which took place during the 1930’s. Daniel was just an ordinary adolescent boy who wanted to follow Hitler’s rule and hate the Jews like everyone else, but all of that changed when his parents reveal that he was actually a half-Jew himself. Due to this, Daniel had to learn that one had to make sacrifices to stay alive while dealing with having not only his identity, but also his freedom stolen from him.

Daniel’s identity was taken away from him when everyone found out he was a half Jew. The propaganda of belittling the Jews was heard so often that when Daniel had found

Near the beginning, Gleichschaltung took place, which translates into “equalization” and is the process of ruthlessly ridding of opposition. During this, the head of the local Altoona Nazi party self-appoints himself mayor and takes senators into protective custody while also planning on having former mayor, Max Brauer, hanged, leaving the public defenseless against new authorities (Chotjewitz 80). Then came provisions of Nuremberg Laws, which stated that sex and between a Jew and a German was racial ignominy and marriages between the two races were forbidden (Chotjewitz 98). Later on, however, we learn that there are other ways to oppress them that weren’t legal. For example, when Rhienhard was trying to build up a new practice after being fired, he received a letter from the Ministry of Justice that asked him to declare, “of his own free will, that he could no longer act in any legal capacity, not even as a notary public (Chotjewitz 200).” Having no lawful basis for this to happen explained why they wanted him to say that it was from his “free will.” He had no choice to comply, otherwise they might have increased the harassment or arrested him (Chotjewitz 200). The blackmail continued when the Finance Ministry requested he give 20% of his paid income tax to Winter Aid, which would reduce his monthly income enough to not be able to get by when he is already struggling financially (Chotjewitz 212). Near