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Media Essay

Nuremberg Race Laws - Photograph

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Nuremberg anti-Jewish legislation racism antisemitism Nazi rise to power propaganda

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A copy of a series of German texts in a dark serif font. English text is stamped at the bottom of the page. It reads ‘Area 12 Germany Jew, Persecution of 1935. The Basic Laws against the Jews. O-S-S 7-3-6-5-8-3’ — Samples of the Nuremberg Race Laws (the Reich Citizenship Law and the Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor). Germany, September 15, 1935.
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Chart illustrating the Nuremberg laws. The figures represent Germans, Jews, and Mischlinge. [LCID: 91451] — Chart illustrating the Nuremberg laws. The figures represent Germans, Jews, and Mischlinge. Germany, 1935.
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Reproduction of the first page of an addendum to the Reich Citizenship Law of September 15, 1935. [LCID: 03624] — Reproduction of the first page of an addendum to the Reich Citizenship Law of September 15, 1935. This is the first of 13 addenda to the original legislation that were issued from November 1935 to July 1943 in order to implement the policy aims of the Reich Citizenship Law.
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A large chart of family trees in German. These charts are made of circles in various colors that would help determine someone’s racial membership according to the law. — Chart with the title "Die Nürnberger Gesetze" [Nuremberg Race Laws]. In the fall of 1935, German Jews lost their citizenship according to the definitions posed in these new regulations. Only "full" Germans were entitled to the full protection of the law. This chart was used to aid Germans in understanding the laws. White circles represent "Aryan" Germans, black circles represent Jews, and partially shaded circles represent “mixed raced” individuals. The chart has columns explaining the "Deutschbluetiger" [German-bloods], "Mischling 2. Grades" [Half-breeds 2. Grade], "Mischling 1. Grades" [Half-breeds 1. Grade], and "Jude" [Jew].
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Eugenics poster entitled "The Nuremberg Law for the Protection of Blood and German Honor." [LCID: 94188] — Eugenics poster entitled "The Nuremberg Law for the Protection of Blood and German Honor." The illustration is a stylized map of the borders of central Germany upon which is imposed a schematic of the forbidden degrees of marriage between Aryans and non-Aryans and the text of the Law for the Protection of German Blood. The German text at the bottom reads, "Maintaining the purity of blood insures the survival of the German people."
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33rd Nazi propaganda slide of a Hitler Youth educational presentation entitled "Germany Overcomes Jewry." [LCID: 93592] — 33rd Nazi propaganda slide of a Hitler Youth educational presentation entitled "Germany Overcomes Jewry." The text in German reads: "Zum Schutze des deutschen Blutes vor fremdrassiger Vermischung erliess der Fuhrer die." Translation: "For the protection of German blood against alien race mixing the Führer issued Nuremberg Laws."
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A burnt orange colored propaganda poster with German text. The top quarter features a linocut of a woman with light skin tone on the right and a man with dark skin tone glaring at her with exaggerated antisemetic features on the left. — This image shows a 1935 poster by the antisemitic Der Stürmer (Attacker) newspaper. The poster justifies prohibiting “interracial” relationships between Jews and non-Jews under the Nuremberg Race Laws.

Many Germans reported suspicions of the “crime” of interracial relationships to the police. The police needed the public to be their “eyes and ears” in this and other matters. Informers were variously motivated by political beliefs, personal prejudices, the desire to settle petty quarrels, or the patriotic desire to be a “good citizen.”

“Everyone cringes with fear,” Jewish professor Victor Klemperer wrote in his diary in August 1933. “No letter, no telephone conversation, no word on the street is safe anymore. Everyone fears the next person may be an informer.”

The poster text reads: “Defiling the Race. Since 1923, Julius Streicher has enlightened the public about defiling the race. In 1935, the Führer declared defiling the race a criminal act, punishable by imprisonment. Nevertheless, thousands of race crimes continue to be committed in Germany by Jews. What is Race Pollution? Why did the Führer decree the Nuremberg Laws? Why does the Jew instigate the German woman to race defilement, systematically and on a mass scale? What are the consequences of defiling the race for the German woman and the German girl? What are the consequences of race defilement for the German Nation? The new Stürmer special issue.”
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Fritz Glueckstein (left) on a picnic with his family in Berlin, Germany, 1932. [LCID: 58276] — Fritz Glueckstein (left) on a picnic with his family in Berlin, Germany, 1932. Fritz's father was Jewish—he attended services in a liberal synagogue—and his mother was Christian. Under the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, Fritz would be classified as mixed-raced (Mischling), but since his father was a member of the Jewish religious community, Fritz was classified as a Jew.
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Two Jewish girls (cousins Margot and Lotte Cassel) ready for their first day of school in Breslau, Germany, ca. [LCID: 79681] — Two Jewish girls (cousins Margot and Lotte Cassel) ready for their first day of school in Breslau, Germany, ca. 1937. As was traditional for all children in Germany, the cones were filled with treats to celebrate their first day of school.

Margot's father, Saul, worked in the Tietz department store until he was dismissed following the enactment of the Nuremberg Laws.
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