The Nuremberg Laws

Emily Preston, Lindsay Allen, Hannah Malatzky

Senior Division

Website

Process Paper: To choose our topic, we made a list of many potential topics, and after some reasearch on all of them, we narrowed it down and finally chose the Nuremberg Laws. We all knew a lot about the Holocaust and what happened during it, but we found it interesting to look back and see how it all really started. Our research was conducted in a variety of ways. We first focused on information about the topic itself, looking at journals and websites and compiling information about that. Next, we focused on historical context and immediate context by going back and finding out what led to the Nuremberg Laws, and how past events led to this. Later, we researched about the short-term effects of the Nuremberg Laws, so what happened in the 5-10 year time span after them. Finally, we took a step back and focused on how this event affected the world in a more long-term way, and how its effects are still felt today. We chose to do a website because we felt that it would be the best medium in which we could express the many different aspects of our topic. We felt that in a website more than anything else, we would be able to show many very different things, all on one medium. We also thought it would be a good medium due to our past experience with technology, and looking to expand our knowledge of the design of a website. Our topic is related to the theme in so many different ways. The Nuremberg laws were a direct violation of the Jewish peoples rights. The only people who could have full civil and political rights were full Germans or full Reich citizens. However, there was still inherent inequality set in law based solely upon ones race, class, and religion. Prior to these laws, the Jews had, legally, most of the same rights as any other peoples in Germany. However, there had been a long standing AntiSemitic mindset in Germany and as soon as Adolf Hitler rose to power, along with the Nazi party, they began to carry out their plan to begin to remove Jewish citizens from society. The governments responsibility is to protect the rights of its people, and when their rights are not being protected, the people have the right and the responsibility to rebel against said government. This idea was thought by many Enlightenment thinkers, but most famously, John Locke. The right to life, liberty, and property are also among his ideas. The government in Germany while the Nazi party was in power was not fulfilling its responsibility to protect the rights of all of its people. It was discriminating against all who were not completely of German blood.

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