*photos courtesy of uhsmm.org
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In 1937-38 Nazis set out to impoverish the Jews by requiring them to register their properties and by taking over their businesses. Jewish workers and managers were dismissed from their posts and Aryan shopkeepers replaced them. Jewish doctors were forbidden to treat anyone other than Jews and Jewish lawyers were not allowed to practice. Jews were also required to carry identity cards; theirs stamped with a "J" for Jew.
Key Dates SEPTEMBER 15, 1935 NUREMBERG LAWS ARE INSTITUTED At their annual party rally, the Nazis announce new laws that revoke Reich citizenship for Jews and prohibit Jews from marrying or having sexual relations with persons of "German or related blood." "Racial infamy," as this becomes known, is made a criminal offense. The Nuremberg Laws define a "Jew" as someone with three or four Jewish grandparents. Consequently, the Nazis classify as Jews thousands of people who had converted from Judaism to another religion, among them even Roman Catholic priests and nuns and Protestant ministers whose grandparents were Jewish. OCTOBER 18, 1935 NEW MARRIAGE REQUIREMENTS INSTITUTED The "Law for the Protection of the Hereditary Health of the German People" requires all prospective marriage partners to obtain from the public health authorities a certificate of fitness to marry. Such certificates are refused to those suffering from "hereditary illnesses" and contagious diseases and those attempting to marry in violation of the Nuremberg Laws. NOVEMBER 14, 1935 NUREMBERG LAW EXTENDED TO OTHER GROUPS The first supplemental decree of the Nuremberg Laws extends the prohibition on marriage or sexual relations between people who could produce "racially suspect" offspring. A week later, the minister of the interior interprets this to mean relations between "those of German or related blood" and Roma (Gypsies), blacks, or their offspring. *information courtesy of ushmm.org |