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The Nuremberg Laws Chapter 6 ”The Purity of German Blood Is the Essential Condition for the Continued Existence of the German People.” the Nuremberg Laws

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The Nuremberg Laws Chapter 6 ”The Purity of German Blood Is the Essential Condition for the Continued Existence of the German People.” the Nuremberg Laws HOLOCAUST THE NUREMBERG LAWS CHAPTER 6 ”The purity of German blood is the essential condition for the continued existence of the German people.” The Nuremberg Laws Excerpt from one of the Nuremberg Laws n the first period of Nazi rule, the persecution of German Nazi rallies Jews had almost no statutory support and happened spon- I taneously. Several laws that affected the Jewish community After 1933, the historical town of Nuremberg, noted for its were passed immediately in 1933, but their legal formulations beautiful architecture, became an almost mythical centre for the were not targeted at any particular group. They were directed Nazi Party and the leadership cult. The landing area for airships in general against the enemies of the new state system, rather (Zeppelinfeld) at the edge of the town was transformed into than exclusively against the Jews. There was no overtly racist a huge open-air arena where hundreds of thousands of Hitler legislation in the first two years of Nazi Germany. supporters got together every year in the middle of September Aggressive anti-Semitic propaganda, however, made for the Nazi Party rally. Long flag-waving processions and itself felt all the stronger, even finding its way into school uniformed corps formations paraded, and the new regime textbooks and children’s literature, in which Jews were de- celebrated its triumphs and initial successes. It was in picted as base shopkeepers, dealers from the Middle East Nuremberg that the trial of the leading war criminals was held and Misch linge (mixed breeds) derived from various “ra- after the end of the war. (Photo Archive VUA-VHA) cial dregs”. In children’s books Jews were called “toadstools”. Extremely anti-Semitic feature films were made in the 1930s, such as The Eternal Jew (Der ewige Jude) and Jew Süss (Jude Süss). The official Nazi tabloid Der Stürmer waged a high- ly irrational anti-Jewish campaign which depicted German Jews as Marxists, shopkeepers and bloodthirsty beasts. Within the state and party system, however, there was growing anxiety and dissension about the approach to be taken against the Jews in individual cases and about the extent of per- secution to be carried out. Many officials were even concerned about how Jews were to be identified, and about who was to be considered a Jew. There were calls for laws that would deal with all these questions and shed light on the situation. In the course of 1935, after a temporary lull from the su- mmer of 1933, the situation once again came to a head. The- The most famous Nazi rallies re was another outbreak of street violence by Stormtroopers 1934 Victory of Faith An original copy of one of the Nuremberg Laws. 1935 Triumph of the Will Signed into law by Adolf Hitler (Chancellor), Wilhelm Frick 1938 Rally of Greater Germany (Minister of the Interior), Franz Gürtner (Minister of Justice) and Rudolf Hess (Hitler’s representative in the Nazi Party). 34 35 HOLOCAUST THE NUREMBERG LAWS The Reich Citizenship Law stipulated that only persons Jews and Mischlinge of “German or kindred blood” may be “Reich citizens” (Reichs bürger). It designated Jews “subjects of the state” Jews (full discrimination) – members of religious commu- (Staatangehörige) without Reich citizenship and deprived nities or persons with three or four Jewish grandparents. them of a whole range of civil rights, especially of a politi- First-degree Mischlinge (partial discrimination) – cal nature. In the period immediately following the adop- persons outside the religious community with two Jewish tion of this law (1935–1937), Jews were not yet deprived of grandparents. their assets or right of residency, nor were they marked out Second-degree Mischlinge (minimal discrimination) – in any way, but the “legal framework” for these subsequent persons outside the religious community with one Jewish measures was now in place. grandparent. This law also had an impact on Germans themsel- Note: Mischlinge with a Jewish spouse were considered to be ves. Henceforth, for example, they would have to prove full Jews. their racial background when applying for certain jobs or political posts. The First Decree to the Reich Citizen- ship Law was passed in November 1935; it defined Jews more closely, since not even Nazi anthropologists, despi- te all their efforts, had managed to unequivocally identi- fy Jews solely on the basis of physiological features. Once Der Stürmer (The Stormer). A vehemently anti-Semitic again, alle giance to the Jewish religious community be- newspaper published by the fanatic Nazi Julius Streicher. The bad came the key criteria. taste, pathological hatred and aggressiveness of this paper shocked According to the above law, a Jew is one who be- even many supporters of the Nazi regime. There was a brief longs to the Jewish religious community or one who is suspension in circulation during the Berlin Olympics in 1936. descended from at least three full grandparents. Spe- cial “privileges” were granted only to those Jews who and an intensification of the anti-Jewish campaign initiated had suf­fered serious injuries or had been decorated du- by Minister Goebbels. Hitler expressed dissatisfaction with ring the First World War. The latter were to receive more the “anarchic situation”, however, and even condemned “in- moderate treatment; during the Holocaust, for example, dividual actions” against the Jews. From then on, everything they were not deported to extermination camps. Never- was to be given a “legal framework”. A decision was soon theless, even they did not avoid persecution. In addi- taken to issue two new laws that would clearly define Jews tion to Jews, the regulation provided for a further two and their inferior legal status, thereby further isolation them categories: first and second-degree Mischlinge, i.e. half from the “Aryan population”. and quarter-Jews. In no way were these allowed to be Work immediately began on the preparation of the Reich members of Jewish religious communities, nor were they Citizenship Law and the Law for the Protection of German allowed to be married to a Jew; otherwise, they were Blood and German Honour. Both legal norms were concei- considered to be full Jews. ved in the spirit of the most primitive racism. Their official an- First-degree Mischlinge were spared many discrimina- nouncement was planned by the Nazis for September 15, 1935. tory measures in the pre-war period; during the Holocaust, The laws became the main point of discussion at the NSDAP however, the Nazis planned to murder most of them, too. ral ly that was being held at the time in Nuremberg, hence they Towards the end of the war, the Nazis had even begun de- Hermann Göring. Hitler‘s close associate and Reichstag became known as the “Nuremberg Laws”. porting them to ghettoes and camps. Second-degree Misch- President at the time the Nuremberg Laws were introduced. He linge, by contrast, were to be integrated among Germans; was tried and sentenced to death at the Nuremberg War Trial. On Ahnenpass. After 1935, every German had to obtain a certificate some of them were even conscripted into the Wehrmacht 15 October 1946 he committed suicide with poison shortly before of ancestry dating back as far as the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. (German armed forces). They were not allowed, however, the sentence was due to be carried out. (Photo Archive VUA-VHA) 36 37 HOLOCAUST THE NUREMBERG LAWS to pursue certain careers or to hold political office that re- quired “completely pure descent”. The second law – the Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour – prohibited all further marri- ages and extra-marital intercourse between Germans and Jews. Contravention of this law was to be punished harshly as a Rassenschande (”race defilement”). In subsequent years, people who broke this law – particularly German girls and women – were often pilloried in public; accompanied by SA guards, for example, they would have to walk through the town carrying a sign reading “I slept with a Jew”. Mixed marri- ages that were concluded before the adoption of this law were to remain legal. Only later was pressure exerted for spouses in mixed marriages to get divorced themselves; in extreme cases, non-Jewish partners also became the target of discrimination. The First Decree to the Reich Citizenship Law, 14 November 1935. “Comparison.” German anthropologists, forensic surgeons and propagandists in the service of the Nazis tried to capture as The Berlin Olympics of 1936. The anti-Semitic propaganda graphically as possible the alleged “mental difference”, evident at was temporarily suspended for the duration of the Olympics. first glance, between the noble “Nordic Man” and his opposite, the (Photo Archive VUA-VHA) repulsive “Jewish sub-human”. První prováděcí předpis k rasovým zákonům ze 14. listopadu 1935. 38 39 HOLOCAUST EMIGRATION CHAPTER 8 Expansion of the greater Germany Reich, 1938–1941 Emigration Germany in 1937 SWEDEN Annexed to Germany DENMARK Area under Nazi control 1938 Year of annexation Copenhagen BALTIC SEA Vilnius Königsberg Minsk NORTH SEA ews began leaving Germany immediately after Hit- German Jews were taken care of at an official level by the Reich ler came to power in January 1933. By October 1941, at Deputation of German Jews, which was founded in September 1941 DISTRICT BIALYSTOK J least half of all German Jews had emigrated, i.e. about 1933 and became the precursor to the later Jewish Councils. Bialystok Hamburg 1939 360,000 of the half-million strong pre-war community. The period of assumed calm, however, did not last for long. Warsaw THE OCCUPIED In the first phase – till 1938 – Jews left to their own accord; In 1938 the standing of Jews once again sharply deterio- Berlin Poznan TERRITORIES OF THE it was only later that they were forced to emigrate.
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