“Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party rose to power with an ideology of national and racial superiority. As the Nazis deepened their control over Germany in the 1930s, they implemented policies and passed laws that stigmatized and persecuted many groups of people that they considered to be outsiders and enemies of Germany, including Jews, political opponents, homosexuals, and Roma and Sinti people. Violence against Jews and their property was on the rise. During Kristallnacht in 1938, synagogues, businesses, and homes were burned and thousands of Jews were interned for varying periods of time in concentration camps.
Until 1941, official German policy encouraged Jews to leave the country by making life in Germany increasingly difficult for them. Jews were forbidden from working in certain professions and renting or owning homes in many places; they could not hold on to their financial assets and could not move freely. These policies, together with a campaign of hateful antisemitic propaganda and an increasingly violent climate, made life in Germany impossible for many Jews. Those who had no choice but to flee for their survival and the survival of their families became refugees, seeking safe havens in other parts of Europe and beyond. At first, Jews were allowed to settle in neighboring countries such as Belgium, France, and Czechoslovakia, but as German occupation spread across the continent, these countries were no longer safe and refugees became increasingly desperate to escape. Philosopher Hannah Arendt described Jewish refugees’ predicament in this way”
