Jews full, first and second degree hybrids. This is how the dignitaries of the Third Reich ruthlessly classified human existence. The punishment for possessing Jewish blood was to be death. But did these precise calculations allow for exceptions?
The meticulous definition of the concept of "Jew" was one of the first steps for Nazi officials to develop a plan for the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question." In the case of "Thoroughbred" Jews, the matter was clear. However, it was necessary to decide how to behave towards those who came from a mixed family. Or worse, they have as much as three-quarters of Aryan blood and only a small admixture of that Jewish. Was there a place for such people in the Third Reich obsessed with racial purity?
The first regulations concerning the status of "hybrids" appeared before the outbreak of World War II, in the Nuremberg laws passed on September 15, 1935. Persons whose only one parent was of Jewish descent were not then discriminated against on an equal footing with "full" Jews. However, these so-called "first-degree hybrids" were still treated worse than pure-bred Aryans and were only exempted from special labeling in exceptional cases .
The "final settlement" of the hybrid issue?
After the outbreak of the war, the elite of the Third Reich became more and more convinced of the need to "drive Jews out of the living space of the German nation." It was clear to everyone that "evacuation" actually meant a death sentence - performed either by conviction to work in a camp requiring superhuman strength or by immediate extermination. Over time, the mood towards people recruited from "hybrids" has also become radicalized.
Already the Nuremberg Laws introduced truly detailed calculations explaining who could be considered a "full-blooded" Aryan.
Attempts to regulate their status in detail were made by the participants of the Wannsee conference, which took place on January 20, 1942. They did refer to earlier laws, but in fact they wanted to change the solutions contained therein. As he writes in the book "The Wannsee Conference. Road to Final Solution ” Peter Longerich:
On the eve of the Wannsee conference (...) the coalition consisting of the NSDAP Racial Policy Office, the RSHA and the Party Chancellery was persistently trying to equate the "half- Of the Jews ”with the Jews. Especially by introducing appropriate regulations in the occupied territories, using the fait accompli method, they wanted to force the adoption of similar solutions in the territory of the Reich.
The proposals of the Nazis gathered in a villa near Berlin significantly worsened the status of people of German-Jewish origin; or at least those who inhabited the territory of the Reich. It was proposed to treat "first-degree hybrids", that is, "half-Jews", as equal to full Jews.
The only exceptions were those who married a "person of German blood" and had children with him and units designated by the highest party and state instances. However, they, too, were to be subjected to brutal restrictions, which can be read in the minutes of the conference, written by Adolf Eichmann:
Any 1st degree hybrid banned from the rescue operation will be sterilized. This is to prevent the birth of new generations of hybrids and to finally cleanse the German people of them. Undergoing sterilization is voluntary, but it is a condition for staying in the German Reich . The sterilized "crossbreed" is then relieved of any arrangements he has been subject to so far.
Successive ranks and mixed marriages
"Second-degree hybrids" would be in a better position, according to the conference decisions. Heydrich recommended treating them, as a rule, as thoroughbreds. However, here too there are exceptions. For example, a child of two first-degree hybrids should be considered a Jew. Moreover, the classification of the persons covered by the evacuation order could be determined by "unfavorable external appearance" or "negative opinion of the police and political authorities" . So whoever looked and acted "like a Jew" was to be classified as a Jew, regardless of the amount of "Jewish blood" flowing through his veins.
The conference, during which officials of the Third Reich discussed who should be considered a Jew, took place in a beautifully situated villa near Berlin.
The protocol also regulated the issues of marriages between Jews, hybrids of various degrees and Germans. Married Jews were generally to be "evacuated" or - in special cases - sent to the ghetto for the elderly. The same was the case with 1st degree hybrids, unless - as mentioned above - they had children "considered to be German".
In the eyes of the conference participants, the second-degree hybrids related to the first-degree hybrids would be in the worst situation. Such families were simply considered all Jewish. But the Nazi architects did not stop there. As the Eichmann protocol attests, the discussion on the "notion of a Jew" ended with a few much further-reaching proposals. "Sterilization is a solution that must be used on a large scale," suggested, for example, Otto Hofmann of the SS Main Office of Race and Settlement.
More than the Führer himself?
The solutions included in the Wannsee Protocol were the most extreme attempt to regulate the issue of "hybrids". It was the organizer of the conference, Reinhard Heydrich, who put himself in front of the ranks by pressing for their admission.
The originator of the most radical solution to the "Jewish question" was Reinhard Heydrich.
It can be said that the chairman of the conference was more radical in this regard than ... Hitler himself . As Peter Longerich writes in his book "The Wannsee Conference. Road to Final Solution ” :
There was a clear written statement from the head of the Reich Chancellery in August 1941 that Hitler was essentially in favor of not equating "hybrids" with Jews (...).
Ultimately, during the successive waves of deportations that began in the spring of 1942, there was no question of a general evacuation of the inhabitants. The orders sent by the Reich Security Main Office were still presented as provisional. "The criteria for the circle of people" to be deported "were still subject to negotiation, Longerich emphasizes. One can only guess how wide this circle would be if Germany won the war. In any case, the Wannsee protocol shows that the literally murderous appetite of the Nazis grew with eating.
Source:
Trivia is the essence of our website. Short materials devoted to interesting, surprising details from the past, strange news from the old press. Reading that will take you no more than 3 minutes, based on single sources. This particular material is based on:
- Peter Longerich, Wannsee Conference. Road to "Final Solution" , Prószyński i S-ka 2018.
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