.jpg) The Nürnberg Race Laws
15 September 1935 Reich Citizenship Law 15 September 1935
The infamous Nürnberg Race Laws were promulgated in the form of a law—even though the Reichstag never actually met to vote on it—at the annual rally of the NSDAP at Nürnberg on 15 September 1935. The laws came at the end of a campaign of antisemitic violence that had filled the spring and summer months. Together, the race laws forbade marriage and sexual relations between Jews and persons of “German or kindred blood,” defined Jews by racial inheritance (not religion), deprived them of citizenship, and relegated them to the second-class status of “subjects of the state” (Staatsangehörige). Between them, these laws laid the legal foundation for most subsequent acts of persecution, expropriation, expulsion, and—as the “Wannsee Protocol” shows—genocide. But the two initial race laws left open the matter of giving a legal definition of “Jew” under the law. That matter was clarified in a “Supplementary Decree” dated 14 November; subsequent “Supplementary Decrees” would introduce further distinctions between persons of mixed race (Mischlinge) in the “first” and “second degree.” Image: This chart instructs ordinary Germans about the meaning of the “Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor” (one of the Nürnberg Race Laws) and its effect on marriage law. |
Reich Citizenship Law
15 September 1935
I.1. A subject of the state is a person who belongs to the protective
union of the German Reich, and who therefore has particular obligations
toward the Reich.
I.2. The status of subject is acquired in accordance with the provisions
of the Reich and State Law of Citizenship.
II.1. A citizen of the Reich is that subject only who is of German or
kindred blood and who, through his conduct, shows that he is both desirous
and fit to serve the German people and Reich faithfully.
II.2. The right to citizenship is acquired by the granting of Reich
citizenship papers.
II.3. Only the citizen of the Reich enjoys full political rights in
accordance with the provision of these laws.
III. The Reich Minister of the Interior in conjunction with the Deputy Führer will issue the necessary legal and administrative decrees for carrying out and supplementing this law.
Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor
15 September 1935
Convinced entirely that the purity of German blood is essential to the further existence of the German people, and inspired by the uncompromising determination to safeguard the future of the German nation, the Reichstag has unanimously adopted the following law, which is promulgated herewith:
I.1. Marriages between Jews and citizens of German or kindred blood
are forbidden. Marriages concluded in defiance of this law are void, even
if, for the purpose of evading this law, they are concluded abroad.
I.2. Proceedings for annulment may be initiated only by the Public
Prosecutor.
II. Sexual relations outside marriage between Jews and citizens of German or kindred blood are forbidden.
III. Jews will not be permitted to employ female citizens of German or kindred blood under 45 years of age as domestic servants.
IV.1. Jews are forbidden to display the Reich and national flag [i.e.,
the swastika banner] or the national colors.
IV.2. On the other hand, they are permitted to display the Jewish colors.
The exercise of this right is protected by the state.
V.1. A person who acts contrary to the prohibition in Section I will
be punished with hard labor.
V.2. A person who acts contrary to the prohibition in Section II will
be punished with imprisonment or hard labor.
V.3. A person who acts contrary to the prohibition in Section III or
IV will be punished with imprisonment up to a year and with a fine, or
with one of these penalties.
VI. The Reich Minister of the Interior [Frick] in agreement with the Deputy Führer [Hess] and the Reich Minister of Justice [Gürtner] will issue the legal and administrative regulations required for the enforcement and supplementing of this law.
VII. The law will become effective on the day after its promulgation, Section III, however not until 1 January 1936.
First Executive Order on the Reich Citizenship Law
14 November 1935
I.1. Until further regulations regarding citizenship papers are issued,
all subjects of German or kindred blood, who possessed the right to vote
in the Reichstag elections at the time the Reich Citizenship Law came into
effect, shall for the time being possess the rights of Reich citizens.
The same shall be true of those whom the Reich Minister of the Interior,
in conjunction with the Deputy Führer, has given provisional citizenship.
I.2. Reich Minister of the Interior, in conjunction with the Deputy
Führer, can withdraw such provisional citizenship.
II.1. The regulations under Section I are also valid for Reich subjects
of mixed Jewish blood (Mischlinge).
II.2. An individual of mixed Jewish blood is one who is descended from
one or two grandparents who were racially full Jews, in so far as he or
she does not count as a Jews according to Section V, paragraph 2 [below].
A grandparent shall be considered as full-blooded if he or she belonged
to the Jewish religious community.
III. Only the Reich citizen, as bearer of full political rights, exercises the right to vote in political affairs or can hold public office. The Reich Minister of the Interior, or any agency empowered by him, can make exceptions during the transitional period, with regard to occupation of public office. The affairs of religious organizations will not be affected.
IV.1. A Jew cannot be a citizen of the Reich. He has no right to vote
in political affairs and he cannot occupy public office.
IV.2. Jewish officials will retire as of 31 December 1935. If these
officials served at the front in the world war, either for Germany or her
allies, they will receive in full, until they reach the age limit, the
pension to which they were entitled according to the salary they last received;
they will, however, not advance in seniority. After reaching the age limit,
their pensions will be calculated anew, according to the salary last received,
on the basis of which their pension was computed.
IV.3. The affairs of religious organizations will not be affected.
IV.4. The conditions of service of teachers in Jewish public schools
remain unchanged until new regulations for the Jewish school system are
issued.
V.1. A Jew is someone who is descended from at least three grandparents
who are racially full Jews. Section II, paragraph 2, second sentence will
apply.
V.2. A Jew is also one who is descended from two full Jewish grandparents,
if
(a) he belonged to the Jewish religious community at the time this
law was issued, or joins the community later,
(b) he was married to a Jewish person, at the time the law was issued,
or marries one subsequently,
(c) he is the offspring of a marriage with a Jew, in the sense of Section
I, which was contracted after the Law for the Protection of German Blood
and German Honor became effective,
(d) he is the offspring of an extramarital relationship with a Jew,
according to Section I, and will be born out of wedlock after 31 July 1936.
VI.1. Requirements for the pureness of blood as laid down in Reich law
or in the orders of the NSDAP and its eschelons—not covered in Section
V—will not be affected.
VI.2. Any other requirements for the pureness of blood, not covered
in Section V, can be made only by permission of the Reich Minister of the
Interior in agreement with the Deputy Führer. These requests must
be made by the Reich Minister of the Interior.
VII. The Führer and Reich Chancellor can grant exemptions from the regulations laid down in this law.
Source: Reichsgesetzblatt I (1935): 1146-1147, 1333. Translated by Jeremy Noakes and Geoffrey Pridham, Nazism: A History in Documents and Eyewitness Accounts 1919-1945, 2 vols. (New York: Schocken, 1988), 1:535-539.
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