History Unfolded: US Newspapers and the Holocaust

Headline: Jews Stripped Of Citizenship
Sub-Headline: Nazis Relgate Them To Medieval Status In New Set Of Laws

Publication Date: Monday, September 16, 1935
Historical Event: Hitler Announces Nuremberg Race Laws
This database includes 982 articles about this event
Tags: Gannett full page downloadable; Early Acts of Persecution
Article Type: News Article
Newspaper: The Akron Beacon Journal
Location: Akron, Ohio
Page Section and Number: 13
Author/Byline: Louis P Lochner (AP)
Article Text: NURNBERG, Germany, Sept. 16.—The reichstag of Adolf Hitler today relegated Jews in the Germany of the future to their position during the middle ages.

They may not become citizens, intermarry with Aryans, have intimate relations with gentiles nor even employ Aryan servant girls under 45 years of age.

The third reich of the future, by unanimous decision of the 600 Hitler followers who make up the reichstag, will be one in which Aryan citizens who "by their attitude indicate they are willing and fit to serve faithfully the people and the reich" will be separated sharply from "belongers to the state."

Practical Politics
Legislation embodying these points was passed last night amid scenes of unexampled patriotic fervor and approbation for the course Hitler has chosen to pursue strictly along the lines laid down in the original Nazi program.

These acts inspired Der Fuehrer's followers with the hope that the rest of the Nazi tenets would be translated into practical politics, step by step, just as fast as political expedience permitted.

Before hearing addresses by Hitler and Gen. Wilhelm Goering, the reichstag itself gave a practical expression of its belief in the authority of Nazi principles.

Bremen Incident Spur
It empowered Goering, as leader of the reichstag, to summon it into session at will until a new set of by-laws, embodying "leadership" principles, has been evolved and adopted.

The tearing of the swastika from the prow of the German liner Bremen in New York last month and the action of Magistrate Louis Brodsky in dismissing five defendants in the case were considered by observers to have furnished, in a measure, direct cause for enactment of the laws.

One law, effective immediately, proclaimed the swastika as the reich's national and commercial flag. Black, white and red were set as the reich's colors, with Der Fuehrer to designate the form of the reich flag and the reich official flag.

A second law defined reich citizens, dividing Germans into members of the state, the protection of which they may enjoy, and citizens—of German or similar blood—who would be allowed to serve the reich and its people.

Flag Laws
The citizen would be given a reich citizen letter making him the bearer of citizen privileges. The date for enforcement of the citizenship law was not fixed.

A third law, entitled "protection of blood and honor," became effective today. It provided that marriages between Jews and Germans were forbidden, and such marriages contracted abroad were declared void.

Extra-matrimonial sexual relations between non-Aryans and Aryans were forbidden under pain of penitentiary punishment. Jews were forbidden to engage Aryan help under 45 years of age, with violations punishable by one year in jail and a fine, or both.

The law provided further that Jews may not fly the German flag, but only the blue and white Zionist emblem.

The Bremen and Brodsky incidents in New York were considered in Nazi circles to have so aroused Hitler that he determined to make the swastika not only the national but also the commercial flag.
History Unfolded Contributor: Amy P.
Location of Research: Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com)

Nuremberg Race Laws: Background (Encyclopedia Article)
Nuremberg Race Laws: Translation (Encyclopedia Article)
The Nuremberg Race Laws (The Holocaust: A Learning Site for Students)
Anti-Jewish Legislation in Pre-War Germany (Encyclopedia Article)
Racism (Encyclopedia Article)

Bibliography

Burleigh, Michael, and Wolfgang Wippermann. The Racial State: Germany 1933–1945. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.

Edelheit, Abraham J., and Hershel Edelheit. "Legislation, Anti-Jewish." In History of the Holocaust: A Handbook and Dictionary, pp. 299–331. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1994.

Friedländer, Saul. Nazi Germany and the Jews. New York: HarperCollins, 1997.

Mosse, George L. Toward the Final Solution: A History of European Racism. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985.

Schleunes, Karl A. The Twisted Road to Auschwitz: Nazi Policy Toward German Jews, 1933–1939. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1970.

Wistrich, Robert S. Antisemitism: The Longest Hatred. London: Thames Methuen, 1991.

All articles about this event