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The Third Reich lasted from 1933 until 1945. It's birth and the death knell of the Weimar Republic, began on January 30, 1933, when [[Hitler]] was appointed Chancellor. Less than a month later, the Reichstag burned and Hitler seized power.

The Third Reich lasted from 1933 until 1945. It's birth and the death knell of the Weimar Republic, began on January 30, 1933, when [[Hitler]] was appointed Chancellor. Less than a month later, the Reichstag burned and Hitler seized power.

== The Reichstag and Its Aftermath ==

== The Reichstag and Its Aftermath ==

On April 7, all Jewish Civil servants were forcibly “retired.“ On April 11, Jews were legally deemed a separate class in Germany with a decree defining as a “non Aryan” "anyone descended from non-Aryan, especially Jewish, parents or grandparents. One parent or grandparent classifies the descendant as non-Aryan...especially if one parent or grandparent was of the Jewish faith." By the end of that year, Jews were excluded from the Reich Chamber of culture, could not act as newspaper editors and could not own land. By the end of the following year, Jews could not participate in the German Labor Front or national health insurance, and could not get legal qualifications. By 1938, Jews could not serve in the military, could not teach Germans or work as accountants and dentists, and were denied tax deductions and child allowances. They could not marry “Aryans.” They could not display the German flag. <ref>History Place Holocaust Timeline http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/timeline.html</ref>

On April 7, all Jewish Civil servants were forcibly “retired.“ On April 11, Jews were legally deemed a separate class in Germany with a decree defining as a “non Aryan” "anyone descended from non-Aryan, especially Jewish, parents or grandparents. One parent or grandparent classifies the descendant as non-Aryan...especially if one parent or grandparent was of the Jewish faith." By the end of that year, Jews were excluded from the Reich Chamber of culture, could not act as newspaper editors and could not own land. By the end of the following year, Jews could not participate in the German Labor Front or national health insurance, and could not get legal qualifications. By 1938, Jews could not serve in the military, could not teach Germans or work as accountants and dentists, and were denied tax deductions and child allowances. They could not marry “Aryans.” They could not display the German flag. <ref>History Place Holocaust Timeline http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/timeline.html</ref>

One element of the Third Reich’s policy of genocide was the innuring of Reich populations to the brutality of the Nazis. When Germany annexed Austria in March, 1938, the deliberate harassment and humiliation of individual Austrian Jews by Nazis was a public spectacle. “I was given a bucket of boiling water,” wrote Morris Fleischman, a Jewish survivor of that era, “and I was told to clean the steps. I lay down on my stomach and began to clean the pavement. It turned out that the bucket was half-full of acid and this burned my hands.” Martin Gilbert, author of The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe During the Second World War, observes that “Dozens of passersby also watched these scenes of humiliation, laughing and mocking as Jews, having been forced to put their sacred prayer bands on their arms, were then made to clean unflushed lavatory bowls…The Germans who carried out the atrocities had already become corrupted by their tasks; laughing when inflicting pain and drawing in passersby to laugh with them. Gradually entire populations became immune to feelings of outrage, and learned to shun compassion.” <ref>The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe During the Second World War, martin Gilbert, Chapter 5, “Hunted Like Rats,”</ref>

One element of the Third Reich’s policy of genocide was the inuring of Reich populations to the brutality of the Nazis. When Germany annexed Austria in March, 1938, the deliberate harassment and humiliation of individual Austrian Jews by Nazis was a public spectacle. “I was given a bucket of boiling water,” wrote Morris Fleischman, a Jewish survivor of that era, “and I was told to clean the steps. I lay down on my stomach and began to clean the pavement. It turned out that the bucket was half-full of acid and this burned my hands.” Martin Gilbert, author of The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe During the Second World War, observes that “Dozens of passersby also watched these scenes of humiliation, laughing and mocking as Jews, having been forced to put their sacred prayer bands on their arms, were then made to clean unflushed lavatory bowls…The Germans who carried out the atrocities had already become corrupted by their tasks; laughing when inflicting pain and drawing in passersby to laugh with them. Gradually entire populations became immune to feelings of outrage, and learned to shun compassion.” <ref>The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe During the Second World War, martin Gilbert, Chapter 5, “Hunted Like Rats,”</ref>

In November of 1938, a young Jewish man distraught over the deportation of his family, assassinated Ernst Vom Rath, a German diplomat in Paris. The result was November 9th, 1938, a night that would afterwards be known as Kristalnacht, a reference to the amount of broken glass littering the streets afterwards. Jewish homes in Germany were ransacked, Synagogues burned, Jews chased down and beaten to death. More than 30,000 Jews were taken to concentration camps. The German government responded by charging the Jewish community for the damage and a few days later, barring all Jewish children from German Schools. What most people remember as “The Holocaust” had begun in earnest.

In November of 1938, a young Jewish man distraught over the deportation of his family, assassinated Ernst Vom Rath, a German diplomat in Paris. The result was November 9th, 1938, a night that would afterwards be known as Kristalnacht, a reference to the amount of broken glass littering the streets afterwards. Jewish homes in Germany were ransacked, Synagogues burned, Jews chased down and beaten to death. More than 30,000 Jews were taken to concentration camps. The German government responded by charging the Jewish community for the damage and a few days later, barring all Jewish children from German Schools. What most people remember as “The Holocaust” had begun in earnest.