Persecution of Jews in Germany did not follow a clear course defined by the NSDAP in or before 1933. It evolved in an open process, with participation of far more German agencies than scholars previously assumed and with active and passive involvement at all levels of society. Anti-Jewish policy was planned, determined, and shaped by a diverse and changing cast of actors. The result was parallel lines of development and, indeed, contradictory elements.

After establishing the dictatorship, the Nazi leadership professed that expulsion of the Jews was its main goal, without, however, formulating clear guidelines for achieving that. As a consequence, central and local administrations, as well as public and private institutions, gained sufficient latitude to develop, or to impede, anti-Jewish measures. Beginning in 1933, not only the government and the NSDAP leadership but also various ministries and other Reich agencies assumed responsibility centrally for conceiving and transforming persecutory policy. At the local level, the municipalities played a subsequently long-overlooked but nevertheless important role in defining anti-Jewish policies, more than local party groups or SA gangs did. A key factor in the rapid radicalization, in addition to widespread anti-Semitism, was the dynamic interchange between local and central administrative offices.