How Did The Nazis Persecuted?

377 Words2 Pages

While many victims of the Nazis were targeted for their ethnicity or religious beliefs, plenty were persecuted only for political opinions. Non-Jewish German victims in the Holocaust were some of the first to be taken to Nazi camps, often sentenced as communists or political prisoners. Many people persecuted in Nazi Germany were targeted for their political beliefs. Nazis wanted all communists to conform to their new way of thinking and accept this way of life. Straying from this new way was an act of communism, meaning an outrageous amount of things could result in arrest. Joking about communism, complaining or speaking ill of the country, not showing respect to authority figures, or merely looking strange could lead to one being arrested as a political prisoner. This means that practically anyone could be falsely arrested and “The Nazis persecuted non-Jewish German opponents both real and perceived” (Political Prisoners). Not only were people of different religious backgrounds being taken away left …show more content…

This was not only because anyone could be seen as a communist, but anyone could report others and get them taken away. The drawback from snitching was it affiliated you with a communist and got you arrested as well. The population caught on quickly and “Anti-Nazi political and union workers either fled germany or faced long-term confinement in a concentration camp”(Political Prisoners). Often those not lucky or resourceful enough to escape imprisonment, would conform with the Nazis in order to save themselves. Since anyone to stand against the government would be taken away, it shows that political prisoners were the first in Nazi camps. With the change in power, one can imagine how many citizens immediately revolted and were taken away. Due to the fact that they were such a minority in the overall casualties of the Holocaust, German communists and other victims are often