how could the SS detect jews?

[LinuxNewbie]

from the end of WW1, Hitler blamed Jews and communists for Germany's defeat. when he got in power he started brainwashing the public into hating Jews/communists/gays and whatever else there was which could be called different from the masses.

ok now, the SS were supposed to round up jews to be sent away....but how could they tell who was Jewish? if you don't have anything religious like a star of david, a jewish bible or one of those beanie things (forgot the real word), how are they supposed to tell that you are Jewish?

[vass0922]

1. Accent
2. I Believe they made them wear arm bands as well didn't they?
3. Last Name
I could be wrong, but those are the ones that stick out in my mind.

[LinuxNewbie]

they can't make them wear arm bands before finding them...

hmm i guess last name may work.... how would Jews have an accent though if they lived among other Germans?

[vass0922]

alot of them emigrated from poland or russia at one time.
The SS would also have paperwork on citizens religious affiliation when they entered the country I would guess.
(again this is based on scant memories of HS, and logic which doesn't always mean the correct answer lol)

[nomaxim]

Don't know if this is true or not?

But, I read that the German tax system requires you to declare a religon in some way. I came upon this info a couple of years ago while doing research on the Nazi Party's donations to the Catholic Church. From what I found, You declare a religon on your taxes and the gov't then makes a donation to that religon. This law was in effect before the Nazi's. If it's still in effect that could explain the problems with Scientology(sp) in Germany today.

I never confrimed this info so I didn't use it in my final report. Maybe someone from Germany in Techimo could shed some light on this?

[LinuxNewbie]

i think i heard something like that too but i thought that Hitler brought that in when he first one the election but before he became a dictator.

[U-96]

also, you didn't have to be a Jew. Having a big nose or a curly beard would have been enough. Hearsay of so-called friends and neighbours got many people arrested, regardless of whether they were really Jewish. Paranoia, propaganda, stereotyping, jealousy, fear - all powerful motivators in insane times...

Often, the mere accusation was enough.

[Epidemic]

Germans were and are notorios note takers. They had excellent records.

Secondly as the hatred of jews increased friends and neighbors would help in the identification. Unless you were a closet jew 90% of you would be identified with in a week of the request.

[Theophylact]

Well, for males, there was a pretty obvious detection technique. Circumcision was not common in Europe except among Jews and Muslims, and Muslims practice it not shortly after birth but at about the age of fourteen, when the result yields a decidedly different appearance. (I hope I'm being sufficiently oblique here.)

This fact figures importantly in the movie Europa, Europa, where a young Jewish boy of not very "Jewish" appearance passes as an "Aryan", with some difficulty and a great deal of embarassment.

[Theophylact]

Anyway, the Nazis didn't care if you were circumcised or not, or whether your parents had converted to Christianity or not. One grandparent of Jewish "blood" was enough to get you classified as a Jew, rounded up, and killed.