How did the Nazi know who the Jews were?

Question:I have done a lot of research on Hitler, WWII and the Nazis. I have read several books and have watched the History Channel but have never gotten an answer.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I have done a lot of research on Hitler, WWII and the Nazis. I have read several books and have watched the History Channel but have never gotten an answer.

not to be sterotypical or anything but jewish people are meticulously good record keepers. Every synagogue has a complete list of every member or those who had visited dating from when the church originated. the nazi's would march into these synagogues and take the books. there they would have a list of every single person in the area who was part of the church. then it allowed them to be easily found and targeted. Also, the Jews owned many shops, offices, businesses, and banks and had records of those who shopped or did business there. Jewish people usually have distinctive last names and facial features that allowed them to stand out from others.

Also in regards to Jews wearing the Star of David. They were forced to wear those as recognition and a way to publicly humiliate them. If someone did not wear their star, they would have to face the fear of being shot down in the street. The Nazi's knew who were the Jews and who should be wearing them. Nazi's were also amazingly good record keepers as well. Most of the stuff we know about the holocaust was from the information taken and kept by the Nazis.

AND the jews were definately not blonde hair or blue eyed. they are traditionally dark hair and olive skinned. Hitler wanted the perfect arayn race of blonde hair blue eyed people. Plus Hitlers mother was definitely not Jewish. There have been rumours that he had a distant relative that was Jewish (which most europeans of that time had) but is not proven either.

The German officials made the Jews wear Stars of David on their chest, and tatooed numbers to their wrists. I do not know why the jews did not take the star off, it would have made the most sense

Simple.
Everyone was required to get a national ID card. They had to declare their religion and race.
As a result, some Jews 'converted' to Catholicism to try and avoid persecution.

I think most of the Jews were either blond-haired and blue-eyed (Christians usually were brown-haired) or they wore the Jewish star. I hope I helped!

Mostly informants, those who feared the Nazis, or were offered better treatment for turning the Jews in.
It wasn't just the religion of Judaism either, they also took in Jew by blood.
Another interesting tid bit for you, Hitler's own Mother was a Jew by birth, so that made him 1/2 Jew himself!

I don't know how, but jews had always got govt records on them throughout history that says they are Jews. Even back in Roman times this applied.

Sara gave you a great answer, but the short answer is that everyone was required to get national ID cards and when they declared they were Jewish a red "J" was stamped on the card; it wasn't done all at once, it was gradual. No one actually imagined the purpose of categorizing the population.

My grandpa's family was given away by a neighbor looking for a few marks. The Gestapo paid a bounty for every Jew that was turned in, so neighbors would spy on each other and see if they cooked on the Sabbath, or if they braised meat in milk. (Jews don't.)

The Nazis kept meticulous records. They used state of the art technology for their time to track not only Jews, but any group they deemed "undesirables".

IBM technology greatly assisted their efforts.

http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/mod...

http://www.jewishaz.com/jewishnews/05020...

While there WERE and ARE Jews of Europe (and of European extraction ) that are blonde and blue eyed, the stereotype was the dark hair and dark eyes, and there are perhaps more Jews with dark hair than blonde, but "LOOK" was not what got them killed,having a Jewish relative or being Jewish did so.

The Nazis tried to falsely equate being Jewish with being a "race", all the while they also used the anti-semitic passages of the New Testament and the words of Martin Luther to inflame anti-semitism.

( NOW do some of you realize why it disturbs Jewish people here in Y/A so much to see some of you use HITLER and the NAZI'S definition of who is a Jew, rather than the Jewish law definition when some of you want to claim being Jewish is a RACE???)

A GREAT many towns simply turned over their town's Jews, Gentile neighbors often willingly volunteered to help round them up. While I am sure some were coerced, the sad and scary truth is that for many who survived and did not wish to return to their homes in Europe..the memory of watching their neighbors VOLUNTEER willingly and joyfully to turn them over to the Nazis was something they could not forget. Who would want to go back to a community that turned you over to be killed?

To look into the eyes of one of the blue eyed, blonde Jews that died in the Holocaust look at the cover of a book titled, Hana's Suitcase by Karen Levine.

Along with what everyone else is saying, people were also considered Jewish if any of their blood relatives up to their grandparents were Jewish. If your grandpa was Jewish than so were you, and so your record would be in the synagogue. You may be asking how the Gestapo got their hands on confidential letters, and the easy answer would be that if the rabbi wasn't willing to give out the information then most likely the synagogue would be burnt down the next day with all of the important papers gone. That was how family's knew to go into hiding, when their synagogue got burnt then it was time to disappear.

Firstly to JOSH D - maybe it had something to do with the fact that the Nazis had a list of anyone with even ONE Jewish grandparent, and if any Jew did 'take the star off' as you suggest, they were shot.

To the asker:

The Germans were always meticulous record keepers. Anyone who was 'tainted' with a 'drop' of 'jewish blood', even several generations removed, was 'jewish' according to the Nazis. They had lists of who belonged to synagogues etc. They knew.