Study oh the "Entjudung of Economy" (Arisierung) in the Third Reich

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"Entjudung of economy" is the term used to describe the elimination of Jews from economic activities in Nazi Germany. The driving out of Jews from economy began to occur after the "Machtergreifung" in January 1933, though it was rather disorderly. However, by late 1937 the government began to officially promote this practice by turning it into state policy. As state policy, "Entjudung" was carried out using one of the following two method : the liquidation of Jewish firms, or the transferring of their ownership to Germans ("Aryanization"). The implementation of this policy had many ramifications on Jewish society and economy.However, the elimination of Jews and the liquidation of their companies were not performed only by anti-Semitic passion. Economic rationality was also made much of. In controlled economy of the four years plan, effective distribution of raw materials and appropriate placement of workforce was intensively pursued.The textile industry became soon the focus of controversy, because there were a lot of Jewish firms and German workforce in this industry, and the textile industry as a whole was considered to be oversupplied in the war economy. Many small and medium-sized businesses tried to survive by mergers and acquisitions. As the struggle for existence became fierce, anti-Jewish actions increased, and Jewish firms were "aryanized". But the concealment of Jewish character of a firm through Aryanization made execution of the company-sorting and liquidation policy of the state impossible. A rule was needed that should satisfy both anti-Semitism and economic rationality.In this situation, the activity of an anti-Jewish organization in the textile industry let the Reich government realize necessity of a legislation which formally defines a "Jewish firm" and determines the procedure of "Entjudung". In parallel with this, reorganization of the department of Jewish problem in the Reich Ministry of Economy was performed, too.