Two main beliefs of the Nazis were false: 1) that Germans were part of a superior "Aryan" race and 2) Jews were part of a race that were inferior to all other races. Judaism is not a race; it is a religion and a belief system. In 1935, the Nazis enacted laws that stripped Jews of their political rights and forced them out of the economy and the arts. Commonly referred to as the Nuremberg Laws, these new laws increased segregation of Jews, revoked Jewish citizenship, and prohibited relationships between Jews and gentiles (non-Jews). One by one, new laws were enacted that restricted Jews in every aspect of their lives.
Watch the clip of testimony from Tova Clark, who recalls how Nazi anti-Jewish laws affected her family and the Jewish community in Germany.
About the Interviewee
Tova Gittel Clark was born in Germany on April 18, 1939 to a progressive Jewish family. As life for Jews in Germany became increasingly difficult, her family fled to Shanghai, China where they were forced to live in the Hongkew Ghetto with other refugees. The ghetto was liberated on September 3, 1945. Her family moved to Israel in 1949 and Tova moved to Canada in the 1970s. This interview was conducted in 2016 in Ottawa, Ontario by the Centre for Holocaust Education and Scholarship (CHES).