Aryanization

Aryanisation refers to the systematic expropriation of Jewish peoples in Nazi Germany and the occupied territories from 1933 onwards. Jewish business owners, homeowners and art collectors were forcibly expropriated and their property given to non-Jewish Germans - often at far below value or for free.

The term conceals the violence and coercion behind these measures, as it was used in Nazi parlance to suggest the "purification" of the German national body. Today, "Aryanisation" is usually used critically and in quotation marks, or replaced by more precise terms such as expropriation, forced sale or confiscation of assets.