From the time of Moses Mendelssohn until the 20th century , the community gradually achieved emancipation , and then prospered . In January 1933 , some 522,000 Jews lived in Germany . After the Nazis took power and implemented their antisemitic ideology and policies , the Jewish community was increasingly persecuted . About 60 % ( numbering around 304,000 ) emigrated during the first six years of the Nazi dictatorship . In 1933 , persecution of the Jews became an official Nazi policy . In 1935 and 1936 , the pace of antisemitic persecution increased . In 1936 , Jews were banned from all professional jobs , effectively preventing them from participating in education , politics , higher education and industry . The Schutzstaffel ( SS ) ordered the Night of Broken Glass ( '' Kristallnacht '' ) the night of November 9 – 10 , 1938 . The storefronts of Jewish shops and offices were smashed and vandalized , and many synagogues were destroyed by fire . Only roughly 214,000 Jews were left in Germany proper ( 1937 borders ) on the eve of World War II
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
History of the Jews in Germany