Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service
7 April 1933
The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, or “Civil Service Law” for short, was decreed one week after the nation-wide boycott of businesses owned by Jews and represented the first comprehensive law of occupational discrimination directed against Jewish citizens. With the so-called “Aryan Clause” (Arierparagraph) in § 3, the law established a racial criterion for continued employment in the civil service, effectively banishing Jews from government and administration; it also set a model that would soon be followed in other professions. The only exceptions allowed were for persons who had entered the civil service prior to World War I and for Jews who had faught in the German military.
The Reich government has enacted the following law, promulgated herewith:
§ 1
(1) To restore a national professional civil service and to simplify administration, civil servants may be dismissed from office in accordance with the following regulations, even where there would be no grounds for such action under existing law.
(2) For the purposes of this law the following are to be considered civil servants: direct and indirect officials of the Reich, direct and indirect officials of the states (Länder), officials of local communities and communal associations, and officials of corporations under public law, as well as of institutions and enterprises of equivalent legal status (see Third Executive Order of the Reich President for the Stabilization of the Economy and Finances, 6 October 1931, Reichsgesetzblatt I, p. 537, part 3, chapter 5, section I, § 15 paragraph 1). The provisions will apply also to officials of social insurance organizations having the status of civil servants.
(3) Civil servants already in retirement are to be considered civil servants for the purposes of this law.
(4) The National Bank (Reichsbank) and the German Railways Corporation (Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft) are empowered to implement parallel regulations.
§ 2
(1) Civil servants who have entered the service since 9 November 1918, without possessing the required or customary educational background or other qualifications for their career track are to be dismissed from service. Their previous salaries will continue to be paid for a period of three months following their dismissal.
(2) They will have no claim to temporary pensions, full pensions or survivors’ benefits, nor to retain the rank or titles of office, or to wear service uniforms or emblems
(3) In case of need and especially if they care for dependents without income, they may be allotted a pension, which can be withdrawn at any time, for up to a third of whatever basic salary they held in their last position; a reinsurance in accordance with social insurance under Reich law is not permitted.
(4) The provisions in paragraphs (2) and (3) shall be applied appropriately to persons of the kind described in paragraph (1) who have already entered retirement prior to the effective date of this law.
§ 3
(1) Civil servants who are not of Aryan descent are to be retired (§ 8 ff.); if they hold honorary posts, they are to be dismissed from their official duties.
(2) Section 1 does not apply to civil servants who were already in office on 1 August 1914 or who fought at the front for the German Reich or its Allies in the World War, or whose fathers or sons fell in the World War. Further exceptions for civil servants working abroad may be permitted by the Reich Minister of the Interior in consultation with the Minister concerned or with the highest state authorities.
§ 4
(1) Civil servants whose previous political activities afford no assurance that they will at all times give their unreserved support to the national state, can be dismissed from the service. They will be allowed to take their earnings for a period of three months following their dismissal. From this point forward they will receive three quarters of the retirement pension (§ 8) and corresponding survivors’ benefits.
§ 5
(1) When official need demands it, every civil servant must be prepared to accept transfer to a different appointment having the same or equivalent career track, including positions with a lower rank and service income schedule—with payment of prescribed relocation expenses. In the case of transfer to a position of lower rank and service income schedule the official retains his previous rank designation and the service income of the previous position.
(2) Instead of transfer to a position of lower rank and service income schedule (paragraph 1) the official may within the one month request entry into retirement.
Reich Chancellor
Adolf HitlerReich Minister of Interior
FrickReich Minister of Finance
Graf Schwerin von KrosigkSource: Reichsgesetzblatt I (1933), S. 175
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