Law on changing surnames and first names
| Basic data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Law on changing surnames and first names |
| Abbreviation: | NamÄndG |
| Type: | Imperial Law |
| Scope: | German Empire , Federal Republic of Germany |
| Legal matter: | Naming rights |
| References : | 401-1 |
| Issued on: | January 8, 1938 |
| Entry into force on: | January 1, 1938 ( RGBl. I 1938, p 9) |
| Last change by: |
Art. 54 G of December 17, 2008 ( BGBl. 2008 I p. 2586 ) |
| Expiry: | only the 2nd regulation through ( Control Council Act No. 1 Art I. 1. l) |
| Please note the note on the applicable legal version. | |
The law on the change of family names and first names of January 5, 1938 (RGBl. I, p. 9) regulates the change of the family name of German citizens or stateless persons , insofar as they have their place of residence or habitual abode in the German Reich. The law is signed by Adolf Hitler as Führer and Reich Chancellor, by the Reich Minister of the Interior , Wilhelm Frick, and the Reich Minister of Justice , Franz Gürtner .
Essential content
According to § 5, an important reason must justify the change of the family name. Section 6 clarifies the responsibility: According to this, the higher administrative authority is responsible for changing a family name; however, the Reich Minister of the Interior can reserve the right to make the decision.
Section 7 enables the Reich Minister of the Interior to revoke such name changes within a period of up to the end of 1940, which were approved before the seizure of power on January 30, 1933, but which are now not to be regarded as "desirable".
Section 12 authorizes the Reich Minister of the Interior to issue regulations on the use of first names and to change first names ex officio that do not comply with these regulations. - This disguised formulation aimed at the planned identification of all Jews with a compulsory first name.
meaning
Section 7 is aimed in particular at assimilated Jews who have given up a surname that is considered typically Jewish and who, according to the National Socialist view, would have camouflaged themselves with it.
The authorization granted in § 12 turned out to be much more serious: With a second implementing ordinance, the name change ordinance was issued on August 17, 1938 , according to which Jews had to take the first name Israel or Sara and use it in official communications. This was "the first attempt at a general, outward identification of the Jews".
occurrence
Initiatives for a special Jewish naming right must be proven at an early stage. As early as 1934 Wilhelm Frick had voiced his fear that Jews could hide their identity by changing their names. On July 19, 1935, he submitted a draft to Adolf Hitler, according to which Jews were only allowed to change their names if the new name could be identified as Jewish. Descendants of Jews who had adopted princely German names at the beginning of the 19th century were to be forced, at the suggestion of Franz Gürtner, to discard this family name and take on the earlier Jewish name. In autumn 1936 Martin Bormann asked the staff of the deputy leader that all Jews should add “Jew” to their family names . This plan was put forward again in the spring of 1937. At the insistence of party comrades, the Reich Ministry of the Interior issued a circular on August 10, 1937, which prohibited the name changes of Jewish mongrels .
Bormann criticized the decree as inadequate. Wilhelm Frick then had a draft made for special identification of Jews, which was available on October 6, 1937. Instead of an addition “Jew” suggested by Bormann for all Jewish family names, the draft provided for the additional use of a typical Jewish first name. Reinhard Heydrich, head of the security police , approved the draft law on the condition that he would also be involved in the implementing regulation. When the Reichsführer SS , Heinrich Himmler , gave his consent, Bormann agreed. The exact provisions were negotiated between the Reich Ministry of the Interior and the Security Police, drafted by Hans Globke and implemented in the Second Ordinance for the Implementation of the Law on Changing Family Names and First Names .
See also
Web links
- Bilge Buz-Aras: On the background of the law on the change of family names and first names (NamÄndG) of 5.1.1938. Berlin, without a year. Online (PDF, 2.7 MB), accessed on September 9, 2019.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Uwe Dietrich Adam : Jewish policy in the Third Reich. Unv. Reprinted in Düsseldorf 2003, ISBN 3-7700-4063-5 , p. 120.
- ↑ Saul Friedländer: The Third Reich and the Jews. Viewed special edition. Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-56681-3 , p. 152.
- ↑ Uwe Dietrich Adam: Jewish policy in the Third Reich. Unv. Reprinted in Düsseldorf 2003, ISBN 3-7700-4063-5 , p. 119.
- ↑ Uwe Dietrich Adam: Jewish policy in the Third Reich. Unv. Reprinted in Düsseldorf 2003, ISBN 3-7700-4063-5 , pp. 119/120.
- ↑ Saul Friedländer: The Third Reich and the Jews. Seen through. Special edition in one volume, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-56681-3 , p. 276.
