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How did Nazi racial ideology contribute to the persecution and murder of Jews during the Holocaust?

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Overhead view of a diverse group of people standing in a circle, holding each other's hands in a gesture of unity and teamwork. — Race Skin color is one of the variables that has been used to classify people into different racial categories.

Nazi racial ideology was the foundational driver of the Holocaust, transforming antisemitism from a religious or political issue into a biological one. By characterizing Jews as Untermenschen ("subhumans") and a "cancer" threatening the German Volk, the Nazis argued that Jewish existence was fundamentally incompatible with the survival and purification of the "Aryan race".123

This ideology manifested in several critical ways:

Biological Definition: Unlike previous forms of antisemitism that could be resolved through religious conversion or expulsion, Nazi ideology viewed Jewishness as an immutable biological trait transmitted through blood. This led to the Nürnberg Laws, which stripped Jews of citizenship and prohibited marriage or sexual relations between Jews and those of "German or kindred blood" to prevent "pollution" of the German bloodstream.42
State-Sponsored Persecution: The regime used pseudoscience and eugenics to justify systemic segregation, exclusion from public life, and the eventual state-sponsored genocide known as the Final Solution.23
Totalitarian Goal: The ultimate aim was the complete eradication of Jews from the human race, which the Nazis framed as a necessary step for the salvation of the German people.13