Anti-Semitic Laws: The Nuremberg Law

Heydrich and attendees of the Wannsee Conference used the Nuremberg laws to come to a conclusion on who should be considered a Jew. By the end of the Wannsee Conference, it was decided that Mischlings of the first degree would be treated as Jews (Jewish Virtual Libary). First degree meaning persons with two Jewish grandparents. According to Jewish Virtual Library, this would not be valid if person are married to a non-Jew and had children by that marriage. This would also not be valid if they had been granted written exemption by the highest offices of the Party and State. Person who obtained written exemption would be sterilized and considered German. It was also decided that Mischlings of the second degree, meaning persons with one Jewish grandparent, would be treated as Germans (Jewish Virtual Libary). This would not apply if persons were married to Jews or Mischlings of the first degree. This would not apply if person’s appearance, political record and behavior were similar to a Jew. When it came to mixed marriages, the Heydrich and attendees of the Wannsee Conference decided that if a mixed marriage had produced children who were being raised as Germans, the Jewish parent would not be killed. However, if the children were being raised as Jews, the Jewish parent would be killed (Jewish Virtual

Before they were sending the Jews to concentration camps they were not letting anybody buy things made by Jews. They would paint big Jewish symbols on Jewish shops and Gestapo soldiers would guard the shop and make sure no one shopped there. They also would beat the Jews if they tried to speak up and tell people that this isn’t right. If you lived at this point in time in Germany it would be a dark and unhappy time. An example of when a Jew was beaten because he

Adolf Hitler was appointed German Chancellor on January 30, 1933. His regime brought citizens no guaranteed basic rights. In 1933, the first Nazi concentration camps were built. The initial camps imprisoned political opponents, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, gypsies, and others classified as dangerous. During Hitler’s first six years, German Jews had more than 400 decrees and regulations. The first major law against the Jews was, the “Law for Restoration of the Professional Civil Service” of April 7, 1933. That law made Jews and “politically unreliable” employees excluded from state service. The laws began to go further by, restricting the numbers of Jews in schools and colleges, and taking business away from Jewish doctors and

In the essay “A 1938 Pogrom Against…” the American Holocaust Museum (AHM) says, “the two laws provided the foundation by which hundreds of thousands of Jewish people living in Germany had their rights steadily and systematically taken away” (46). In this quote the AHM is referring to the Nuremburg Laws, which removed the citizenship from Jews living in Germany, the laws also prohibited the intermarrying of Jews to non-Jews (46). Later, Jews were forced to identify themselves and were banned from using public facilities such as hospitals (46). The most impressive aspect of these laws is that there was no opposition from the German people when these laws were put into place, instead the German public were prepared for more radical measures (47). In the essay excerpt “An Overview of the Holocaust” college professor Christian Gerlach describes the first act of violence against Jews was Kristallnacht, in which more than 1,000 synagogues were destroyed, Jewish shops were robbed and looted and 91 Jews were killed (30). In the essay passage “An American Jewish Woman…” journalist Adam Biga explains that during the events of persecution the main perpetrators were the authorities, however, civilians also took part in similar attacks across Europe (159). During this time the authorities enacted laws into motion to antagonize the Jewish community so that the Jews would be hated by the people of Europe. The act of going after a specific racial group qualifies as a crime against humanity and an act of

Hitler made the “Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service” it was the first law to exclude Jews from state service. “The Anti-Semitic laws were issued throughout all levels of government, making good on the Nazis’ pledge to persecute Jews if the party came to power”. The law also limited the amount of Jewish kids in a school and limited Jews working in medical professions. People were also called Jews if they had grandparents that were Jewish.

In the beginning, German officers and soldiers rounded up Jews and other ethnic groups and sent them to labor camps, ghettos, or “death” camps. Some families were separated, never to see each other again. People were starved and killed, which violates the Health part of this ideal. The Jews were also held in these places against their will, which is an opposition to a man's right to freedom.

The Nuremberg Laws effectively banned the Jews from any citizen rights. The ‘Blood Law’ or Reich’s Citizenship Law banned Jews from marrying Germans, it banned them from sexual relations with Aryans, it banned the Jewish people from displaying the National flag and effectively stripped them of their rights to citizenship. The debate about what defined a Jew tested Hitler in the weeks following the Nuremberg Rally eventually creating the ‘mischlinge’ category of 1st or 2nd degree half Jews, all of which were subject to less but varying degrees of discrimination. The two years that followed were also relatively quiet as far the Jewish question was concerned

The persecution of many individuals in Germany was due to their Jewish ancestors, the persecuted were accused of having “Jewish blood” because according to Jewish religion, one must be chosen by the religion from birth; meaning that if one’s ancestor was a Jew, then that ancestors treacherous Jewish blood was prominent in their offspring as well.

The main goal of the Nazis pertaining to the European Jews was that of total extermination. At the yearly party rally held in Nuremberg in 1935, the Nazis announced new laws which regulated a large number of the racial speculations common in Nazi philosophy. Two distinct laws passed in Nazi Germany in September 1935 are referred to on a whole as the Nuremberg Laws: the Reich Citizenship Law and the Law for the Assurance of German Blood and German Honor. These laws epitomized large portions of the racial hypotheses supporting Nazi philosophy. They would give the legitimate structure to the orderly abuse of Jews in Germany. The laws rejected German Jews from Reich citizenship and prohibited them from marrying or having sexual relations with persons of "German or related blood." Ancillary ordinances to the laws disenfranchised Jews and denied them of most political rights.

This identity as disgusting, impure creatures helped to set them apart from the pure Aryan race in society. This set up the Aryan race as superior and the Jewish race as inferior. This was reinforced physically through structural discrimination such as the Nuremberg laws and the forced wearing of the Star of David. The Germans the then found a false concreteness in this distinction that the Jews were evil and were ‘rats' who conspired against them. This allowed them to find concreteness in their belief that the Holocaust was legitimate. However, it was false considering that the Jews had fought in the German army and proved their loyalty to the German state. The Germans' perception of the Jews' identity allowed them to deny the freedoms of the Jews. They began by denying the Jews' right to be Germans, which opened the door for other denial of freedoms, such as even the right the life. These included the boycott of Jewish businesses in 1933, the Nuremberg

2) Individuals with two Jewish grandparents who were baptized into the Protestant or Catholic tradition were known simply as Mischlinge. Under the original Nuremberg Laws, Mischlinge were able to keep their citizenship;

“Being a Jew or a German is a part of the blood” (Feldman,), this is a statement from the Nuremberg Laws, which was consigned to the Jews in September of 1935 ("United States Holocaust Memorial Museum."). The Nuremberg Laws consisted of five discriminating guidelines such as: 1. “The “Reich Citizenship” (it stated that only a person of “German or related blood” could be a citizen, have political rights, or could hold office), 2. the “Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor” (this made it illegal for Jews and non-Jews to get married or engaged in sexual relations together), 3. Jews were not allowed to have non-Jewish female servants under forty-five years old, 4. Jews were forbidden to fly the German flag, 5. (being a Jew is a part of a person’s blood) (Feldman,)”. Jews were not able to eat, shop, or even use the restroom in certain places. Children that went to school were taught anti-Semitic lessons, and the Jewish children were taunted and chaffed, not by peers’ alone, but teachers as well. This dreadful method compelled children to refuse attending school ("United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.").

In pre-war 1933-1934 the first set of legislations were announced the first major law was “Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service” and was passed in April 7th 1933. This law excluded Jewish from “state service” which was the exclusion from organisations, professions, university and other aspects of life. May 10th 1933 was the first burning of books publicly written by Jewish authors and peoples who spoke out about the status of Germany. 1935 was a tough year for Jewish citizens. May 21st the army expels Jewish peoples from their respected roles. September 15th was the day that the “Nuremberg laws” passed, these laws we’re the REAL wave of anti-Semitic laws these laws were Jewish people where not considered to be part of the German race, they’ve been disconnected as citizens and now are just “Jews” and is where we get to see the hatred of the “different/inferior” races. They’ve also defended the word “Jew” even though that’s kind of impossible, and that is “Anyone with three Jewish grandparents; someone with two Jewish grandparents who identifies as a Jew.” Things only got worse with time, as in 1936 three major laws were pass to limit the Jewish communities occupations. They were banned from being: Tax agents, Advisors (January 1936) Veterinarians (April 1936) and lastly they’re banned from working as teachers in government school (October 1936) they’re being limited of where they can work and are slowly being forced out of Germany. 1939 august 1st laws past that Jews are not permitted to buy lottery tickets. Many other laws were passed such as limiting number of Jewish students going to schools and university, Jews aren’t allowed to enter bars, banning midwives from having an

By 1933, the Jewish population in Germany was around 525,000 people which was only one percent of the total German population. During the years to follow, Nazis established an “Aryanization” of Germany. Non- Aryans (non- Germans) were dismissed from civil service, Jewish- owned businesses were liquidated, and Jewish layers and doctors were stripped of their clients. Later in 1935, the Nuremberg Laws were enacted by the Nazi government. The Nuremberg Laws were composed of two new racial laws, the Reich Citizenship Law and the Law to Protect German Blood and Honor. The Nuremberg Laws restricted Jews, it declared that anyone who had three or four Jewish grandparents would be deemed as a Jew, and anyone with two Jewish grandparents would be deemed a Mischlinge (half-breed). The Nuremberg Laws led to Jews becoming targets of wide-spread discrimination and persecution. These laws stripped Jews of their German citizenship and outlawed marriage and sexual intercourse between Jews and non-Jews. They also prohibited Jews from obtaining certain jobs (such as jobs in the government, medical field, and in law). They prohibited Jews from certain entertainment and recreational activities (such as parks, beaches, theaters, sporting events). Under the Nuremberg Laws Jews were also prohibited

After Hitler comes into power, the laws of Jewish persecution become more often, stricter, and more deadly. The next law that passed was that of the Nuremberg Laws these laws stated that none of the Jews in Germany were allowed to marry Aryans or fly the German flag (The Holocaust Background info center). 1935 ended with another law against the Jews being passed, as did the start of 1936.