e Kristallnacht. However, it was difficult for Jews to get visas to other countries, most of which adopted restrictive immigration policies. 3) The EconomyFrom 1933 to 1939, concerted efforts were made by Nazi Party, agencies of the government, banks, and business enterprises to eliminate Jews from economic life. Jewish firms were either liquidated or Germans purchased them for much less than their full value. The proceeds of any sales as well as Jewish savings were subjected to special property taxes. The Jewish employees of liquidated or Aryanized firms lost their jobs. When the war broke out, the existing regulations were extended in every possible direction and tightened up. The Final Solution was set in motion.These anti-Semitic policies could have never been implemented if not for the desperation of the German people. Anti-Semitism intensified toward the end of the First World War. The traumatic defeat in 1918, the economic plight of the middle class during the First World War and the hyper-inflation of 1923, and the confusion of values perceived by many Germans during the Weimar years fostered an irrational and aggressive outlook that often blamed the Jews. Jews were held responsible for the increasing concentration of retail industries, that put small workshops and traders out of business, or the commercialization of agriculture, which was considered a "Jewish plot" to exploit the hard-working farmer. The economic, social, and psychological crises created by the Great Depression had dire political consequences for Weimar democracy. Therefore, many people who were discontented with democracy found answers to their insecurity in the messages of the NSDAP. Nazi propaganda provided simple but apparently understandable reasons for the economic collapse. The Nazis blamed the Versailles settlement and reparations, the Weimar system itself. They believed that Jews allegedly stood behind Marxism, the Weimar system, much of big business a...
