The Nuremberg Laws were decreed by the Nazi Party in 1935. There were three laws that legislated about miscegenation from Jews, of the flag German and the most important point of the law, which defined the criteria that granted the right of citizenship in Nazi Germany. The Nuremberg Laws were a major step in the construction from hate against Jews in Germany, which resulted in the Holocaust during the years of World War II.
Background
As soon as the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, the policy of social eugenics and anti-Semitism was put into practice in the country – although initially the policy eugenics have been more influential than the anti-Semitic. In any case, one of the first measures taken by the Nazis against the Jews took place in 1933, when the Jews were banned from holding positions in the German civil service.
As mentioned, in this early period, the policies against gypsies, homosexuals and criminals were much more forceful than anti-Semites, but in any case, anti-Semitism was used as a tool by the Nazis to protect the regime when its popularity was low.
In 1935, the violence against the Jews grew considerably in Germany, and boycotts against Jewish shops were recorded in Germany. In addition, there was a part of society and the party, of course, that demanded that segregation measures against Jews be passed in Germany. One of the demands was a ban on the marriage of Jews with non-Jewish Germans . This is explained by historian Ian Kershaw who claims that
[…] in the eyes of the movement's radicals little had been done until early 1935 to eradicate Jews from society. […] The new wave of violence now led to vociferous demands for the introduction of discriminatory laws against Jews, which would lead to the fulfillment of the party's program|1| .
All this violence manifested against the Jews was result from hate speech carried out by Nazi leaders. Despite this, the Nazi leadership mobilized the police to contain the manifestations of violence against Jews. This is because Nazism needed to preserve its image in the international community and, therefore, this type of action was taken. In any case, as Ian Kershaw puts it, the barbarity against the Jews decreased, but the discrimination and intimidation were gigantic|2|.
While the Nazi leadership used the police to control anti-Semitic violence, it also incited the population through hate speech against Jews. This paradoxical situation is explained by the fact that in the first two years the popularity of Nazism was not good because of the unfulfilled promises of Adolf Hitler. With that, the Nazi regime used anti-Semitism as a distraction from the criticisms that were made.
The rise of anti-Semitism, in this context, it began to become a “problem” for the regime. Thus, a law prohibiting “weddings mixed" between the military was passed and it was soon considered that the law would be extended to the whole of Germany. Also, orders from citizenship performed by foreign Jews began to be denied by the German government.
These actions were able to reduce the violence anti-Semitic in the country and raised a debate about the need to create laws that would completely segregate Germany's Jews. This even generated criticism of nazism, since the party's program advocated the implementation of these measures in the country.
In September 1935, the rally annual of the Nazi Party in Nuremberg. Shortly before, in August, the VII Congress of the Communist International had been held, in which it was decided on a new policy of combat at fascism at an international level. The realization of this congress, added to the internal pressures made Hitler decide for the implantation from laws more rigid against the Jews in Germany.
For Hitler, the decree from laws anti-Semites would be a response to the conspiracy international, supposedly organized by the Jews. Thus, laws were passed in the Reichstag (German Parliament). The new laws legislating on citizenship, miscegenation and the German flag were introduced to the nation on September 15, 1935.
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What were the Nuremberg Laws?
The Nuremberg Laws were introduced during the 1935 Nazi Party Convention.*
The Nuremberg Laws were a set from laws passed and presented by the Reichstag on September 15, 1935. The laws were drafted by order direct from Adolf Hitler and covered issues such as the definition of citizenship, miscegenation and the German flag. The three laws that characterize the Nuremberg Laws are “Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor ”, “Reich Citizenship Law ” and “Reich Flag Law ”.
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German Blood and Honor Protection Act
This law acted considerably in the scope private of German society, as it prohibited marriage between Germans and Jews. The relationships sexuals between Germans and Jews were also prohibited by law, and Jews were prohibited to hire maids Germans aged below 45 years. All people who did not respect this law were accused of “corruption sexual ”.
Historian Richard J. Evans claimed that between 1936 and 1939, as a result of this law, about 420 people per year were condemned for sexual corruption. Of that number, about 2/3 of those convicted were Jewish men|3| .
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Reich Citizenship Law
That was the point more “important” and most prominent of the Nuremberg Laws. This law basically defined who would be considered citizen German and who wouldn't. According to the law, only people with blood German and with a proven genealogical link they would be considered Germans. Those who did not receive citizenship were considered only “subjects of the State ”, people who had obligations to the state but who had no rights.
Under the Reich Citizenship Act, all persons who have ¾ of Jewish blood or who practice the Jewish religion would be considered Jewish. The ¾ refers to both paternal and maternal grandparents, so if three of a person's four grandparents were Jewish they would be considered Jewish under German law.
People who had ¼ or ½ Jewish blood were considered to belong to a second- and first-degree mixed race, respectively. As people of these two “races mixed" had right to citizenship German. In the case of those linked to the “mixed race”, they would be considered Jews if they practiced Judaism, if they were married with Jews or if they were children from one father Jew or mother Jewish|4| .
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Reich Flag Law
The Reich Flag Act made the swastika as integrant symbol da flag of Germany and stipulated that the colors Germans would be the red, the white and the black.
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Grystals Night
The Nuremberg Laws are a milestone in the history of Nazi Germany because they paved the legal way for the exclusion of Jews from German society. Another important milestone of this period and that inaugurated the phase of violence and physical imprisonment against Jews by the German State was the pogrom (attack) known as Crystal Night that happened in all to Germany in November 1938. To learn more, access this text:Noite dos Cristais.
Holocaust
The speech from hate of the Nazis against the Jews resulted in genocide of Jews during World War II. The genocide of Jews during the Holocaust happened by middle dos Einsatzgruppen , the extermination groups that acted in Eastern Europe and also in the concentration camps. At the end of World War II, six millions from Jews were dead. To learn more, access this text:Holocaust.
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Final Solution
The Jewish extermination plan known as the Final Solution was devised by Heinrich Himmler (left) and Reinhard Heydrich (center).*
The mass extermination of Jews during World War II that characterized the Holocaust occurred when the Nazi Party through Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich structured the plan known as Solution End. That plan articulated how the Jews of Europe would be exterminated.
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Concentration Fields
One of the steps of the Holocaust took place through imprisonment dos Jews in concentration camps. In these places, the Nazis had their labor exploited and with the construction of extermination camps, such as Auschwitz and Treblinka , the Nazis began executing the Jews on an industrial scale. To learn more, access this text:Nazi concentration camps.
Nuremberg Court
After the end of World War II and the defeat of Nazi Germany, party members who were linked to war crimes and the genocides promoted by the Germans were taken to the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg . In that court, it was decided to condemn or acquit members of Nazism. In that courtroom, people like Julius Streicher and Joachim von Ribbentrop were sentenced to death by hanging.
|1| KERSHAW, Ian. Hitler. São Paulo:Companhia das Letras, 2010, p. 373.
|2| Ditto, p. 372.
|3| EVANS, Richard. J. The Third Reich in Power. São Paulo:Planet, 2014, p. 620.
|4| KERSHAW, Ian. Hitler. São Paulo:Companhia das Letras, 2010, p. 380.
*Image Credits:Everett Historical and Shutterstock