Anti-Jewish legislation in pre-war Nazi Germany
Anti-Jewish legislation in pre-war Nazi Germany comprised several laws that segregated the Jews from German society and restricted Jewish people's political, legal and civil rights. Major legislative initiatives included a series of restrictive laws passed in 1933, the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, and a final wave of legislation preceding Germany's entry into World War II.
1933 Anti-Jewish Legislation[edit]
Enabling Act[edit]
The Enabling Act of 1933 established the power of the Nazi-led government to pass law by decree, bypassing the approval of parliament. It was passed on March 23, 1933, and effectively nullified the Weimar Constitution.[1]
Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service[edit]
In April 1933, the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, or 'Civil Service Law', as it was more commonly known when passed, established the ability of the Nazi-led government to legally remove undesirables from the civil service profession, including doctors, teachers and lawyers.[2]
Many local governments also did not allow for the Jews to slaughter animals by way of shechita. In turn, this prevented the Jews from obeying Jewish dietary laws other than with a vegetarian diet.[3]
This Law created the basis for the years to come, the Nazi party saw "racial purity [as a] condition of superior cultural creation and of the construction of a powerful state".[4] The Civil Service Law was used to purify Germany through excluding Jews from key areas of the German community.[4]
The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service "defined the three groups of undesirable civil servants and provided for their dismissal". The first group included those appointed after November 9, 1918, and could be removed if they did not have the proper training, which meant anyone could fit into these standards. The second group were those who were deemed by their past that they would not always support the national state, e.g. members of the Communist Party, or any related or associated organisation.
The third group were any "non-Aryans", a way of excluding the Jews without explicitly mentioning "Jews" in the legislation.[5]
Decree Regarding Physicians' Services with the National Health Service[edit]
This law affected Jewish doctors, and subsequently Jewish health care. Passed also in April, under this legislation, patients who saw a "non-Aryan" doctor would not be covered under the national health insurance, thus excluding Jewish doctors from German society.[6]
The Law Against the Over-Crowding of German Schools[edit]
Looking to further enact their racial agenda, the Nazi party then looked toward curbing educational policy. On April 25, 1933, the Law Against the Over-Crowding of German schools was passed, and required an end to any Weimar teachings that discussed democracy and equality; it enforced the teaching of racial pride. Under the guise of a concern for educational over-crowding, the Nazis limited the number of Jewish students enrolled in German schools to 1.5% of the total enrollment.[7]
July 1933 Citizenship and Denaturalization Law[edit]
With the goal of excluding Jews from having full citizenship rights, an Advisory Committee for Population and Race Policy met at the ministry of the Interior to discuss a new citizenship law.[8]
What followed was the Denaturalization Law passed on July 14. As a result of this law, the Reich government could take away the citizenship of those who were deemed "undesirable", applying to anyone who had been given citizenship by the Weimar government. Those who saw the results of this law first were the "150,000 Eastern Jews in Germany".[9]
Hereditary Farm Law[edit]
Passed on September 29, 1933, this law "excluded Jews from owning farmland or engaging in agriculture". It stated that only Germans could now be farmers. Though the law had minimal effect due to the lack of Jews involved in farming, it still displayed a central idea of the Nazi party that, "The Reich government passes this law to secure the peasant foundations of our blood line through instituting the ancient customs of land inheritance."[10]
Establishment of the Chambers of Culture[edit]
On September 29, 1933, the power of Jewish Cultural life in Germany was transferred to Joseph Goebbels, who established chambers of culture that would regulate activity in their chamber of either film, theater, music, fine arts, literature, broadcasting, and the press.[11] The chambers of the different genres of culture were combined in their umbrella body, the Reich Chamber of Culture.
Each Chamber had the power to exclude anyone involved in any of the facets of culture, even without an "Aryan clause" written into the legislation.[11]
For example, the film chamber could dismiss any Jews involved in any stages of the film-making process including the "producer, actors and ticket collectors in the theater". To continue involvement in the film industry one would need "licensed permission from the chamber president".[11]
As a supplement to the Chambers of Culture, a journalism law went into effect on October 4, 1933, stating that to produce work for the press, journalists and editors would also need specific legal permission.[11]
Post-Nuremberg legislation[edit]
1936 Berlin Olympic Games[edit]
In order to prevent foreign criticism of Germany, and keep the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, and to prevent economic loss and a blow to German prestige, Hitler eased the anti-Jewish stance momentarily.[19]
On December 3 1935, all anti-Jewish signs near the site of the Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen were ordered to be removed by Hitler. It was only an action taken to ensure the Olympics would be held in Germany by preventing international disapproval.[19]
Second wave of anti-Jewish legislation, 1938–1939[edit]
After the Nuremberg Legislations and during 1938, "worse than total expropriation was to follow: Economic harassment and even violence would henceforward be used to force the Jews to flee the Reich or the newly annexed Austria. Within the second phase, 1938 was the fateful turning point."[20]
De-certification of all Jewish physicians, who were no longer allowed to treat German patients and forced to refer to themselves as "sick-treaters", a degrading term.[21]
March 22, 1938 Jews were forbidden from owning private gardens.[21]
July 27, 1938 A decree was enforced stating all streets in Germany needed to be renamed.[21]
November 12, 1938 Jews were forbidden from attending movie theaters, the opera, and concerts.[21]
November 15, 1938 Jewish children barred from attending public school.[21]
The essential robbery of Jews became legal when Jews were forced on February 21, 1939, to turn in all jewelry of any value.[21]
In this second wave of legislation, Jews were ostracized even further from society, with strict restrictions living under "a German regime that practiced terror and arbitrariness through the judicial system".[22]