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Aryanization

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Paul Barlow (talk | contribs) at 18:02, 6 January 2006 (Indian history). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Aryanization is a term that has two, very distinct, meanings.

Nazi Germany

In Nazism (German Arisierung) is a term used for the expropriation of Jews in Nazi Germany, Austria and the territories it controlled. It was based on the ideology of an Aryan master race and generally was to the benefit of Nazi supporters and party members.

By January 1, 1938, Jews were prohibited from operating businesses and trades, and from offering goods and services. In the Autumn of 1938, only 40,000 of the formerly 100,000 Jewish businesses were still in the hands of their original owners. Aryanization was completed with the enactment of a regulation, the Verordnung zur Ausschaltung der Juden aus dem deutschen Wirtschaftsleben of November 12, 1938, through which the remaining businesses were transferred to non-Jewish owners and the proceeds taken by the state. Jewelry, stocks, real property and other valuables had to be sold below market value. Jewish employees were fired, and self-employed people were prohibited from working in their respective professions.

Many important businesses were sold and re-sold in the course of the process, some of which (such as the Hertie department store) played an important role during the post-war Wirtschaftswunder years in Western Germany.

In a broader sense, the term Aryanization is sometimes used to refer to eviction of Jewish scientists and people engaged in the cultural sector.

Indian history

In the study of ancient India the term "Aryanization" has a very different meaning, referring to the slow spread of Vedic Indo-Aryan culture from the Indus Valley across the north of India and then into the south of India, creating the conditions for the culturally distinctive Hindu caste-system and the Dharmic religions: a identity that still dominates India and affects debates about its national identity. The process of Aryanization was once seen as a product of massive population movement in the north followed by strong cultural influence in the south. It is now seen more as a general process of acculturation than mass migration. The process of Aryanization has become caught up in debates about Indo-Aryan migration.

See also