History Unfolded: US Newspapers and the Holocaust

Headline: NAZI EMBLEM NATIONAL FLAG OF GERMANY
Sub-Headline: Drastic Restrictive Laws Against Jews Passed at Urging of Hitler

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: Stevens Point Daily Journal
Location: Stevens Point, Wisconsin
Page Section and Number: 1
Author/Byline: Harold Peters (UP)
Article Text: Nuremberg, Germany, Sept. 16—(U.P.)—Adolf Hitler told Nazi party chieftains today that Germany's new, drastic restrictive laws against Jews will make it possible for them to have their own community life in Germany.

He took occasion also to order members of the Nazi party to see that the ban on "individual acts" against Jews was enforced.

Nazi Emblem New Flag
In his long awaited speech to a specially summoned reichstag session incident to the annual Nazi party congress here, Hitler concerned himself with Jews with an assurance of peace and with the status of Memel territory—warning to the powers must protect Germans from Lithuanian aggression and with official establishment of the Nazi emblem as the real symbol of the country in the national flag.

From the world standpoint his reference to peace was of paramount importance. It appeared to say plainly that Germany would not encourage Benito Mussolini's ambitions and would adopt an attitude of neutrality similar to that of the United States. Though he mentioned no names, he spoke with his usual forthrightness:

Declaration of Peace
"There can be only one principle to guide our behavior[sic]—namely, our great, unshakable love of peace," he said.

"Such a declaration seems necessary because some of the international press continually seeks to make Germany the subject of its culminations. Now it is said that Germany is going to attack France, then that aggression against Austria is planned, then that Germany plans to attack Russia— I do not know where. (Germany has no frontier on Russia; to attack it would have to go through Lithuania, Poland, or Czechoslovakia).

"These alleged aggressive plans serve as arguments in favor of action which is desired by those who make the allegations.

Preserve Freedom
"The purpose of building up Germany is not to threaten or to take any European land but exclusively to preserve the German nation's freedom." After Hitler's speech the reichstag enacted by unanimous standing vote three laws, of which those respecting Jews, it was announced officially, would affect only full-blooded ones. The laws are:

1. The German swastika becomes the country's flag. The flag will remain red, white and black. Embodied in it will be the swastika which is the official symbol of the country. The national emblem is the commercial flag. Hitler and Gen. Werner von Bolmberg, war minister, will decide on the make-up of war flags. This law is effective today.

Defines Citizenship
2. As regards citizenship a distinction is made between "state subjects" and reich citizens. Everyone protected by the reich is a state subject but only a select group may become reich citizens and only such citizens will have full personal rights. In order to become a citizen one must prove German blood and willingness and ability to serve the German people and the reich faithfully. Reich citizens will be identified by a special document. Wilhelm Frick, minister of interior, and Rudolph Hess, Hitler's deputy as leader of the Nazi party, are to announce details of the law's application.

3. "For the protection of German blood and honor" marriages between Jews and Germans or related lines are forbidden. The attorney general may question marriages already contracted between Jews and others. Illegal intercourse between Jews and Germans is forbidden. Effective January 1 no Jew may hire a German maid of under 45 years of age in his household. No Jew may hoist the swastika flag. But Jews may hoist the Jewish colors of blue and white.

Coincident with the enactment of these laws the National Lawyers' association forbade lawyers connected with any Nazi organization to serve Jews or Jewish firms against "Aryans" or "Aryan" firms. Jews are defined as those with less than 75 per cent "Aryan" blood and Jewish firms as those in which Jews control 50 per cent or more of the capital.

Discusses Memel Situation
Hitler spoke gravely of the position of Germans in Memel, taken from Germany after the World war and put under Lithuanian rule.

"Germany observes developments in Memel with attention and bitter-
(Continued on page six)
History Unfolded Contributor: Carlos G.
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.

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