Two
race-based measures depriving Jews of rights, designed by
Adolf Hitler were approved by the Nazi Party at a convention
in Nürnberg on September 15, 1935. One, the
Reichsbürgergesetz (German: "Law of the Reich
Citizen"), deprived Jews of German citizenship,
designating them "subjects of the state." The other, the
Gesetz zum Schutze des Deutschen Blutes und der Deutschen
Ehre ("Law for the Protection of German Blood and German
Honour"), usually called simply the Blutschutzgesetz
("Blood Protection Law"), forbade marriage or sexual
relations between Jews and "citizens of German or kindred
blood." These measures were among the first of the racist
Nazi laws that culminated in the Holocaust.
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The
cover page of a German passport stamped with the
letter "J" (Jude) identifying its holder, Karoline
Rülf, as a Jew. [USHMM]
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Under these laws, Jews could not fly the German flag and
were forbidden "to employ in domestic service female
subjects of German or kindred blood who are under the age of
45 years." The first supplementary decree of November 14,
1935&emdash;one of 13 ordinances elaborating these
laws&emdash;defined Jews as persons with at least one Jewish
grandparent and declared explicitly that "a Jew cannot be a
citizen of the Reich. He cannot exercise the right to vote;
he cannot occupy public office." The other enactments
completed the process of Jewish segregation. Before long
Jewish passports were stamped with a red "J" (for Jude;
"Jew"), and Jews were compelled to adopt "Jewish" names.
Jewish communities were deprived of their legal status by
the decree of March 28, 1938, and steps were taken to
exclude Jews completely from the practice of
medicine.
This racial
definition meant that Jews were persecuted not for their
religious beliefs and practices but for a so-called racial
identity transmitted irrevocably through the blood of their
ancestors. These laws resolved the question of definition
and set a legal precedent. The Nazis later imposed the
Nürnberg Laws on territories they occupied. The laws
also provided a model for the treatment and eventual
genocide of the Roma (Gypsies).
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Imposing
total boycott on Jewish businesses in Nazi
Germany.
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Although the
Nürnberg Laws divided the German nation into Germans
and Jews, neither the term Jew nor the phrase German or
kindred blood was defined. Because the laws contained
criminal provisions for noncompliance, the bureaucrats had
the urgent task of spelling out what the words meant. Two
basic Jewish categories were established. A full Jew was
anyone with three Jewish grandparents. That definition was
fairly simple. Defining part-Jews --Mischlinge
("mongrels")-- was more difficult, but they were eventually
divided into two classes. First-degree Mischlinge were
people who had two Jewish grandparents but did not practice
Judaism and did not have a Jewish spouse. Second-degree
Mischlinge were those who had only one Jewish
grandparent.
The efforts to
prove one's non-Jewish ancestry generated a new cottage
industry employing hordes of "licensed family researchers,"
offering their services to anxious Germans afraid of a
skeleton in the family closet. These efforts also involved
the Health Ministry and church offices, which had to provide
birth and baptismal certificates. [EB]
From:
www.britannica.com/eb/article-9056530
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