1930s Anti-Jewish Sentiment: Not Just in Germany

Global Reach of Nazi Ideology

While Nazi activity was most rampant in Germany, during the 1930s it was not contained there. Anti-Jewish sentiment spread all over the world — including the Vichy government in France, the Iron Guard in Romania, and the Rexist movement in Belgium. There were also plenty of influential political, industry, and religious leaders in the United States, including Charles Lindbergh, Henry Ford, and Charles Coughlin, among others, who were anti-Jewish, pro-Nazi, anti-Roosevelt isolationists. This global support — active or tacit — for the Nazi party and its principles contributed to their ability to achieve a stranglehold over German life.

Nazi France

In France, while the Nazis occupied the northern portion of the country, the Vichy government maintained control of the south, but make no mistake: they were doing the Nazis’ dirty work with relish. As you’ll see in a future post, when it was time to round up the Jews in Paris, it wasn’t the Nazis doing the job, but the French gens d’armes.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. When we talk about what the Nazis did, we’re really talking about the Nazis and their far too many collaborators.

The murder of 6 million Jewish people — not to mention the Romani people, homosexuals, communists, people with mental disabilities, and prisoners of war, along with anyone the Nazi party deemed enemies of the state — required cooperation from across the globe.

America was not without its own anti-Jewish sentiments. Here are just a few of the endless examples in our collection.

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