Nuremberg Laws
Shortly after assuming power in 1933, the Nazis passed the first antiJewish legislation, removing Jews from professions and businesses.
In September 1935, the two Nuremberg Laws were passed. The first of these laws, known as the Reich Citizenship Law, reclassified Jews as secondclass citizens and removed their basic civil rights.
The second of the Nuremberg Laws, known as Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honour, established membership in the Jewish 11race" as being anyone who either considered themselves Jewish or had three or four Jewish grandparents. People with one or two Jewish grandparents were considered to be Mischlinges of mixed race. Although at first there was some uncertainty as to how to treat Mischlinges, ultimately anyone with even a single Jewish grandparent was at risk in Nazi Germany. The Nuremberg Laws were unique in classifying Jews, not as a religion or culture, but as a race. This meant that even nonpracticing Jews or Jews who had converted to Christianity could be defined as Jews.
The Nuremberg Laws governed the private lives of Jews in their interactions with nonJews. For example, the laws prohibited intermarriage or sexual intercourse between Jews and nonJews. Jews were prohibited from employing nonJewish women under age 45 as domestic helpers.
The Nuremberg Laws were part of the Nazi's belief in an Aryan "master race." "Inferior races" such as the Slavs were useful only as slaves. Jews, Roma (Gypsies) and the handicapped were considered to be serious biological threats to the purity of the German race, and therefore " unworthy of life." These ideas were based on eugenics, a racial theory popular in most western nations at the time, including Canada, Britain and the United States.
Today, geneticists dispute the ideas of racial superiority and have found very few genetic differences among races. Despite the superficial variations of hair and skin colour, all people are more genetically alike than they are different.
Definitions
- Aryan - Term perverted by the Nazis to mean a so-called master race. The idealized Aryan was blond, blue-eyed, tall and muscular. The original term refers to a people speaking a Indo-European dialect.
- Eugenics - Science of improving humans. The Nazis' conception of eugenics was to carefully 6reed superior races and to discourage or prevent inferior races from procreating.
- Mischlinge - Persons of mixed race, born of intermarriage, or partly Jewish according to the Nuremberg Laws.
- Reich - German for nation, state or empire. The Third Reich is the term most often used to refer to the German state from 1933-45.
- Slavs - Largest ethnic- linguistic group of peoples inhabiting mainly eastern, southeastern and east central Europe. Group includes Russians, Poles and Czechs among others. Nazis considered Slavs an inferior race, suited for enslavement.
Nuremberg Laws Chart
The Nuremberg Laws stated that only a person of 'German blood' (four white circles, top row left, on the chart) could be a German citizen. Jews were redefined as second class citizens. A Jew was defined as someone who had three or four Jewish grandparents (three or four black circles, top row right, on the chart). People with one or two Jewish grandparents were considered to be Mischlinge - of mixed race. Although Mischlinges were the subject of some debate initially, ultimately anyone with even a single Jewish grandparent was at risk under the Nuremberg Laws.
Race and Law in Canada
Examine the Nuremberg race laws as pictured by the black and white circles on the chart. Consider that many Canadians are of mixed heritage and that people of different language and ethnic groups often intermarry. Imagine the effect on Canadian society, if over time, one racial, ethnic or linguistic group became dominant, some groups were considered to be inferior, and others of mixedrace. What problems would be encountered in trying to sort everyone into the right categories? How does this relate to the difficulties experienced by Jews who had assimilated, married nonJews or converted to Christianity? Explain how the classification of Jews as a race made escape from persecution almost impossible.
What was the significance of enshrining Nazi racial ideology in law? What role did lawyers and doctors play in this process? Compare the Nuremberg Laws to the laws used to disenfranchise JapaneseCanadians during World War II?
What is the difference between a Canadian census question, which asks people to identify themselves by to race or ethnic group, and the classification of Jews as a race in Nazi Germany?
Ethnic Conflicts Today
Read newspapers to research and describe current world conflicts, in which race or ethnic differences are exploited to promote hatred and genocide.
Eugenics in Canada
Eugenics, which promoted "selective breeding," was a popular idea in most western countries. During the 1930s, patients held in mental institutions in British Columbia, Alberta and twenty U.S. states, were forcibly sterilized to prevent the procreation of those considered to be "inferior." In 1998, the Alberta government formally apologized to those who had been sterilized. Why do you think it was important to redress a wrong, even one that had occurred so many years ago?
Design a Poster
Article One of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:
That all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. Article Two continues that this is "without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex or language, religion, political or other opinion."
Design a poster for a racism-free school, which promotes these human rights. Your poster should present people of every race and colour with dignity and as welcome in your school.