The Nuremberg Race Laws Copyright
© United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC
At the
annual party rally held in Nuremberg in 1935, the Nazis announced new
laws which made official many of the racial theories prevalent in
Nazi ideology. The laws excluded German Jews from Reich citizenship and
prohibited them from marrying or having sexual relations with persons
of "German or related blood." Extra ordinances to the laws
disenfranchised Jews (took away their right to vote) and deprived them of most political rights.
The
Nuremberg Laws, as they became known, did not define a "Jew" as someone
with particular religious beliefs. Instead, anyone who had three or
four Jewish grandparents was defined as a Jew, regardless of whether
that individual identified himself or herself as a Jew or belonged to
the Jewish religious community. Many Germans who had not practiced
Judaism for years found themselves caught in the grip of Nazi terror.
Even people with Jewish grandparents who had converted to Christianity
were defined as Jews.
For a
brief period after Nuremberg, in the weeks before and during the 1936
Olympic Games held in Berlin, the Nazi regime actually moderated its
anti-Jewish attacks and even removed some of the signs saying "Jews
Unwelcome" from public places. Hitler did not want international
criticism of his government to result in the transfer of the Games to
another country. Such a loss would have been a serious blow to German
prestige.
After
the Olympic Games (in which the Nazis did not allow German Jewish
athletes to participate), the Nazis again stepped up the persecution of
German Jews. In 1937 and 1938, the government set out to impoverish
Jews by requiring them to register their property and then by
"Aryanizing" Jewish businesses. This meant that Jewish workers and
managers were dismissed, and the ownership of most Jewish businesses
was taken over by non-Jewish Germans who bought them at bargain prices
fixed by Nazis. Jewish doctors were forbidden to treat non-Jews, and
Jewish lawyers were not permitted to practice law.
Like
everyone in Germany, Jews were required to carry identity cards, but
the government added special identifying marks to theirs: a red "J"
stamped on them and new middle names for all those Jews who did not
possess recognizably "Jewish" first names—"Israel" for males, "Sara"
for females. Such cards allowed the police to identify Jews easily.
KEY
DATES
1933: First Concentration Camps Established.
The Nazi regime started imprisoning its political opponents,
homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses and others classified as "dangerous."
Extensive propaganda
was used to spread the Nazi party's racist goals and ideals. During the
first six years of Hitler's dictatorship, German Jews felt the effects
of more than 400 decrees and regulations that restricted all aspects of
their public and private lives.
SEPTEMBER
15, 1935: NUREMBERG LAWS ARE INSTITUTED
At their annual party rally, the Nazis announce new laws that revoke
Reich citizenship for Jews and prohibit Jews from marrying or having
sexual relations with persons of "German or related blood." "Racial
infamy," as this becomes known, is made a criminal offense. The
Nuremberg Laws define a "Jew" as someone with three or four Jewish
grandparents. Consequently, the Nazis classify as Jews thousands of
people who had converted from Judaism to another religion, among them
even Roman Catholic priests and nuns and Protestant ministers whose
grandparents were Jewish.
OCTOBER
18, 1935: NEW MARRIAGE REQUIREMENTS INSTITUTED
The "Law for the Protection of the Hereditary Health of the German
People" requires all prospective marriage partners to obtain from the
public health authorities a certificate of fitness to marry. Such
certificates are refused to those suffering from "hereditary illnesses"
and contagious diseases and those attempting to marry in violation of
the Nuremberg Laws.
NOVEMBER
14, 1935: NUREMBERG LAW EXTENDED TO OTHER GROUPS
The first supplemental decree of the Nuremberg Laws extends the
prohibition on marriage or sexual relations between people who could
produce "racially suspect" offspring. A week later, the minister of the
interior interprets this to mean relations between "those of German or
related blood" and Roma (Gypsies), blacks, or their offspring.