Mixed marriage (National Socialism)

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During the time of National Socialism , Jews and their “ German-blooded ” partners, with whom they lived in mixed marriage , were degraded as a person , restricted in their employment and determined by regulations in their way of life . The spouses classified as “Jewish” were spared deportations at least until shortly before the end of the war and escaped the Holocaust .

In Germany forbidding Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor ( "Blood Protection Law"), which on 15 September 1935 on the Nazi Party Rally of the NSDAP was adopted in Nuremberg, then on marriages between "German blood" and Jews and turned extramarital relationships between them as " racial disgrace " under penalty. When classifying as Jews in the sense of the Nuremberg Laws , the individual level of confession of those affected only played a role in the so-called half - Jews in the defamatory National Socialist diction . Otherwise, the decisive factor was not one's own religious affiliation: Anyone who (according to Aryan evidence ) had three or even four grandparents of Jewish religious affiliation was, according to the National Socialist view, a “full Jew”.

Christian-Jewish mixed marriages

Since the general introduction of legal civil marriage in 1875, interdenominational and interreligious marriages were no longer an exception in Germany. In the mixed marriages between Christians and Jews, the male part was a “racial Jew” in 75% of the cases, as defined in the First Ordinance on the Reich Citizenship Act of November 14, 1935. Most of the time he had converted to Christianity , although he could have joined a liberal Jewish religious community. A Jewish woman, on the other hand, permanently lost the connection to her religious community if she entered into a marriage with a non-Jewish man.

During the Nazi era, the term “mixed marriage” should only be used in the sense of the racist definition of the regulation on the Nuremberg Laws; The use of the term for a marriage of different denominations for official traffic was prohibited in 1935 by a circular issued by the Reich Ministry of the Interior .

In the German Empire there was after the 1939 census still 20,454 mixed marriages; for 1933 the number is estimated at 35,000.

Fragile protection

The existing "mixed marriages" were and always remained a nuisance for racist National Socialists. As early as the 1920s, the NSDAP demanded a ban on the “mixing” of Jews and “Aryans”. When the Nuremberg Laws were formulated in 1935, influential party supporters unsuccessfully demanded a forced divorce from mixed marriages. In the "Law for the Unification of the Law of Marriage and Divorce" of July 6, 1938, racial reasons were declared admissible as requests for divorce. At the beginning of 1942, at the Wannsee Conference, the deportation of the Jewish spouses was named as the target. Shortly afterwards, in a follow-up conference at the speaker level, Wilhelm Stuckart proposed that the mixed marriages be forced to divorce. Such plans became known as rumors as early as August 1942. Bishop Theophil Wurm protested in a letter to Hitler on July 16, 1943 against the planned divorces and the persecution and extermination of Jews. In October 1943 the coordinated draft of an ordinance on compulsory divorce was available; but there was no meeting with Hitler . Another advance by the party chancellery in January 1944 did not lead to a decision.

If a mixed marriage was dissolved through divorce or the demise of the non-Jewish partner, the Jewish partner was only protected if there were unsupervised children. Otherwise, from 1944 onwards, the Jewish survivor was immediately deported to Theresienstadt. A regionally limited analysis of divorce judgments suggests that, due to the numerous repression measures, the divorce rate of mixed marriages was 20 percent above the average.

In the NSDAP-Gau Hessen-Nassau the Gestapo began in autumn 1942 to take Jewish mixed spouses into “ protective custody ” for minor offenses - going to the cinema, receiving unplanned coal deliveries or alleged “cheek” - and they were instructed in the concentration camp at the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA) To obtain Auschwitz . Such locally limited initiatives, which can also be verified for Hamburg , were restricted in May 1943 by an instruction from the RSHA.

Shortly before the end of the war, all consideration was dropped and existing mixed marriages were intervened. Jews who were able to work from mixed marriages as well as Jews who were legally recognized were to be transferred to Theresienstadt for private work. From mid-February to March 1945, 2,600 Jewish spouses were deported there; the nationwide planned action was canceled in the final phase of the war and almost all of the deportees returned.

In summary, the historian Beate Meyer comes to the conclusion that mixed marriage during the National Socialist era did not offer "a sure guarantee of survival". Mixed marriages, however, gave the majority of this group the time necessary to survive. If the war had lasted any longer, the rulers would have "undoubtedly also included these last remaining Jews in their murder program".

"Privileged" and "non-privileged mixed marriage"

In these “mixed marriages”, the National Socialists differentiated between groups that were called “privileged” and “non-privileged mixed marriages” in non-official parlance. This was never regulated by law; On December 28, 1938, Hermann Göring informed the Reich Ministry of the Interior and the staff of the Fuehrer's deputy of a clear “will of the Fuehrer” and asked for it to be announced “down to the lowest level of government”. This privilege of largely assimilated German Jews is seen as a "tactical concession" in order to prevent expressions of solidarity by non-Jewish relatives.

The first part of the guidelines marked by Göring as "secret" deals with tenant protection for Jews and the possible establishment of Jewish houses and provides for a "ban on Jews" for bathing establishments and a ban on the use of sleeping and dining cars. Spouses in mixed marriages are generally included in the planned radical interventions, but several exceptions are listed in the second part:

  • In "mixed marriages with children (mixed race 1st degree)", in which the male part of the marriage is "German-blooded", the family does not have to move to a "Jewish house". The Jewish mother's property may be transferred to the husband or children.
  • If the father is a Jew and the mother is “German-blooded”, they are “temporarily” spared an accommodation “in Jewish quarters” since “the children later have to serve in the labor service and in the armed forces and should not be exposed to Jewish agitation.” Assets can be transferred to the children.
  • Childless mixed marriages in which the husband is “German-blooded” are treated the same as those who have children: they do not have to move and the Jewish wife's property can be transferred to the husband.
  • If the husband is considered to be a Jew in a childless mixed marriage, no preference is given to other Jews. A transfer of assets is prohibited and both spouses can be accommodated in Jewish houses or Jewish quarters.

This paraphrase with the vague term "Mischling I. Grades" was formulated more precisely in paragraph 7 of the law on tenancy agreements with Jews of April 30, 1939 , which was passed shortly thereafter . There it says: "Descendants who are considered to be Jews are not taken into account". This made it clear that “mixed marriages with children” were only given privileges if the legitimate children were to be classified as “ Jewish mixed race ”. If the children belonged to the Jewish religious association and were brought up in the Mosaic faith , then as “ valid Jews ” they were legally to be treated like “full Jews” - with the result that the family was not “privileged”.

In privileged mixed marriages, the Jewish spouse was exempted from the ordinance issued in September 1941, according to which all persons defined as “Jews” were obliged to wear the “ Star of David ” from the age of six . The male Jewish spouse of a childless “mixed marriage” was forced to wear the “Star of David” and was “not privileged”.

The Jewish part of a "mixed marriage" as well as their children and the "German-blooded" partner were not spared other forms of discrimination. All anti-Jewish measures that were taken up to 1938 also affected the Jewish partners in a mixed marriage: their businesses were “ Aryanized ”, they had to use the additional name Sara or Israel by means of a name change ordinance and were called upon to pay the “ atonement ” after the November pogroms . Many professions were closed to them, their “ Jewish spouse” was usually dismissed from civil service in accordance with the German Civil Service Act and their children were only able to attend grammar schools and universities to a limited extent and were only possible until June 1942. Initially "non-privileged married couples" and a little later also married couples in which the male part was considered to be Jews, were basically forced to give up their apartment in 1942/43 and were housed in cramped "Jewish houses". The Jewish spouses were usually obliged to do forced labor from 1940 onwards and were usually barracked from 1943 onwards. In October 1943 the order was issued to send the “German-blooded” husbands as “Jewish relatives” to the Todt Organization's labor camps; After a hesitant start, this measure was comprehensively implemented in October 1944 with the " Sonderkommando J ".

The handling of the regulations was inconsistent in the Reichsgau. For example, Hamburg Jews in “privileged mixed marriages” received the normal food allocation, which was cut elsewhere for all Jews. On the other hand, deportation was ordered in Hamburg before 1944 if the non-Jewish part of the marriage died.

Financial support from the National Socialist People's Welfare was only given to “hereditary healthy” and “racially high-quality” people; the winter relief organization referred Jews to the " Jewish winter aid " to a greater extent . Jewish mongrels in need and families from mixed marriages between “German-blooded” and Jews were still supported by the Winter Relief Organization in 1938 if the (male) head of household was “German-blooded”.

Marriage of "half" and "quarter Jews"

In the “ First Ordinance to the Reich Citizenship Law ” of November 14, 1935, it was defined who was considered a “ Jewish half-race ” : These were assimilated “ half-Jews ” who had no close ties to Judaism and were often brought up in the Christian faith. The possibilities of a marriage for those classified as “Jewish half-breeds” were described in Section 3 of the “First Ordinance on the Blood Protection Act”. After that, an application was required if the marriage to a "German-blooded" person was intended. The physical appearance, the character traits, the family history and the political reliability of the "Jewish mongrel" should be assessed. The applications were generally rejected; often only proven “special services to the movement” (NSDAP) were rewarded with a marriage permit. From 1940 onwards, applicants were usually informed that their application had no prospect of approval. Since 1942, the processing of the applications "for the duration of the war" was completely stopped.

Only “second-degree Jewish mixed race” (“quarter Jews”) who had no further ties to Judaism were allowed to marry “German blooded” people. Here they were counted among the “German blooded”, so marrying “half-Jews” without special permission was forbidden.

Mixed race of the first degree ("half-Jews"), who were attested to a greater turn to Judaism through their marriage to "full Jews" or their religious beliefs, were referred to in administrative usage as "valid Jews" and treated like "full Jews" under marriage law. They were forbidden from marrying “German-blooded” and “second-degree Jewish half-breeds” (“quarter Jews”).

Mixed marriages in occupied countries

Mixed marriages were rare in the Baltic States , Poland and Romania until the Second World War , were more common in Hungary and the Netherlands, and were comparatively most common in Italy and Denmark. A total number of mixed marriages can not be determined for the European areas that were ruled by or collaborated with by Germany during the Nazi era ; Raul Hilberg estimates their number at over 100,000.

Even in the countries allied with Germany, mixed marriages were not dissolved by law. Jewish spouses in mixed marriages were not subject to all the discriminatory measures that other Jews had to endure. In the occupied western territories, however, the Jewish partner was not generally spared deportation and often subsequent killing.

In the Netherlands, according to plans by the commander of the security police, Wilhelm Harster , the spouses of childless mixed marriages and those in which the husband was Jewish were to be sent to camps. Others should be forced to sterilize. Following the intervention of the Protestant churches, Seyß-Inquart stipulated on October 30, 1943 that the Jewish partners from mixed marriages could “temporarily” stay outside of camps in the Netherlands.

In the occupied part of the Soviet Union, not only full and half Jews and quarter Jews were sent to ghettos as members of Jewish religious communities, but initially also the Aryan part of mixed marriages if they did not want to separate. A decree of November 1, 1941 set out more than a dozen rules on how Jews should be classified as part of a mixed marriage: The conditions for a better position were considerably stricter than those for German Jews.

After the war

On June 23, 1950, the " Law on the Recognition of Free Marriages for Racially and Politically Persecuted People " ( Federal Law Gazette p. 226 ) was passed for politically persecuted people who had been refused marriage due to National Socialist laws. Even if one of the partners had died in the meantime, a marriage refused by the National Socialist state could be declared legally concluded with retrospective effect. By 1963, 1823 corresponding applications had been made, of which 1255 were approved.

See also

literature

  • Ursula Büttner : The persecution of the Christian-Jewish “mixed families”. In: Ursula Büttner: Sharing the plight of the Jews. Hamburg 1988, ISBN 3-7672-1055-X .
  • Beate Meyer: "Jewish mixed race" racial policy and experience of persecution 1933–1945. Hamburg 1999, ISBN 3-933374-22-7 .
  • Beate Meyer: Persecution of Jews, mixed marriages and the protest in Rosenstrasse 1943 , in: Zeitschrift für Geschichtswwissenschaft 52 (2004) pp. 23–36.
  • Beate Meyer: The persecution and murder of Hamburg's Jews 1933–1945 . Published by the State Center for Political Education, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 3-929728-85-0 (pp. 79–87).
  • Cornelia Essner: The “Nuremberg Laws” or: The Administration of Rassenwahns 1933–1945. Paderborn 2002, ISBN 3-506-72260-3 (in detail about requests from Jewish mongrels).
  • Franklin A. Oberlaender: "But we are not fish and not meat-" Christian "non-Aryans" and their children born after 1945. Leske and Budrich, Opladen 1996, ISBN 978-3-8100-1466-5 .
  • Cornelia Schmitz-Berning: Vocabulary of National Socialism. Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-11-013379-2 .

Web links

Wiktionary: mixed marriage  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Beate Meyer: The persecution and murder of Hamburg's Jews 1933–1945 . Published by the State Center for Political Education, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 3-929728-85-0 , p. 79.
  2. ↑ Cornelia Schmitz-Berning: Vocabulary of National Socialism. Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-11-013379-2 , p. 409.
  3. ↑ Beate Meyer: The persecution ... , p. 80.
  4. ↑ Beate Meyer: The persecution ... , p. 79.
  5. ↑ RGBl. I, p. 807: §37 EheG (mistake of meaning) / Alexandra Przyrembel : "Rassenschande". Göttingen 2003, ISBN 3-525-35188-7 , p. 86 / For contestation and resolution see also Bernhard Müller: Everyday life in civilization break ... Munich 2003, ISBN 3-935877-68-4 , p. 344–348.
  6. ↑ Document VEJ 6/182 (October 27, 1942) in: Susanne Heim (edit.): The persecution and murder of European Jews by National Socialist Germany 1933–1945 (collection of sources) Volume 6: German Reich and Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, October 1941 –March 1943. Berlin 2019, ISBN 978-3-11-036496-5 , pp. 606–508.
  7. ↑ Victor Klemperer : I want to give testimony to the last - diaries 1942–1945 , 2nd edition Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-351-02340-5 , vol. 2, pp. 225, 253 and 274.
  8. ↑ Document VEJ 11/56 in: Lisa Hauff (edit.): The persecution and murder of European Jews by National Socialist Germany 1933–1945 (source collection) Volume 11: German Empire and Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia April 1943–1945 . Berlin / Boston 2020, ISBN 978-3-11-036499-6 , pp. 218-219.
  9. ↑ Uwe Dietrich Adam: Jewish policy in the Third Reich. Düsseldorf 2003, ISBN 3-7700-4063-5 , pp. 222-234.
  10. ↑ a b Beate Meyer: The persecution ... , p. 83 / Document VEJ 11/103 of December 18, 1943 in: Lisa Hauff (edit.): The persecution and murder of European Jews by National Socialist Germany 1933–1945 ( Source collection) Volume 11: German Empire and Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia April 1943–1945 . Berlin / Boston 2020, ISBN 978-3-11-036499-6 and pp. 40–41.
  11. ↑ Beate Meyer: 'Jüdische Mischlinge' - Racial Policy and Persecution Experience 1933–1945. 2nd edition Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933374-22-7 , p. 94.
  12. ↑ Beate Meyer: 'Jüdische Mischlinge' - Racial Policy and Persecution Experience 1933–1945. 2nd edition Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933374-22-7 , p. 59.
  13. ↑ Monica Kingreen: "'The action for cold settlement of mixed marriages' ...", in: Alfred Gottwaldt et al. (Ed.): Nazi tyranny - contributions to historical research and legal processing. Berlin 2007, ISBN 3-89468-278-7 , p. 200.
  14. ↑ Joseph Walk (ed.): The special right for the Jews in the Nazi state. 2nd edition Heidelberg 1996, ISBN 3-8252-1889-9 , p. 406.
  15. ^ Beate Meyer: Questionable protection - mixed marriages in Hamburg (1933-1945). In: Beate Meyer (ed.): The persecution and murder of Hamburg's Jews 1933–1945 . Hamburg 2006, ISBN 3-929728-85-0 , p. 87.
  16. ^ In detail: Beate Meyer: Questionable protection - mixed marriages in Hamburg (1933–1945). In: Beate Meyer (ed.): The persecution and murder of Hamburg's Jews 1933–1945 . Hamburg 2006, ISBN 3-929728-85-0 , pp. 79-87.
  17. ↑ As document VEJ 2/215 printed in: Susanne Heim [Hrsg.]: The persecution and murder of European Jews by National Socialist Germany 1933–1945 , Vol. 2: German Reich 1938 – August 1939 , Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3 -486-58523-0 , here p. 584 / as document PS-069 in: IMT: The Nuremberg Trial against the Major War Criminals, Volume XXV, p. 132f.
  18. ↑ Ursula Büttner: Sharing the plight of the Jews ... Hamburg 1988, ISBN 3-7672-1055-X , p. 44.
  19. ↑ RGBl. 1939 I, 864 § 7 text of the law
  20. ↑ Ursula Büttner: Sharing the plight of the Jews ... Hamburg 1988, ISBN 3-7672-1055-X , pp. 60–66.
  21. ↑ Ursula Büttner: Sharing the plight of the Jews ... Hamburg 1988, ISBN 3-7672-1055-X , p. 66.
  22. ↑ Herwart Vorländer: "NS- Volkswohlfahrt und Winterhilfswerk des deutschen Volkes", in: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 34 (1986) H. 3, p. 369 with annotation 92 on orders for the implementation of the Winterhilfswerk, ed. by the Reich Commissioner for the WHW, 1938, p. 24 ( PDF ).
  23. ^ Raul Hilberg: Perpetrator, victim, spectator. The extermination of the Jews 1933–1945 , Frankfurt / M. 1996, ISBN 3-596-13216-9 , p. 149 with note 1.
  24. ^ Raul Hilberg: Perpetrator, victim, spectator. The extermination of the Jews 1933–1945 , Frankfurt / M. 1996, ISBN 3-596-13216-9 , pp. 149 f.
  25. ↑ Beate Meyer: "Jewish mixed race". Racial policy and experience of persecution 1933–1945 . 2nd Edition. Dölling and Galitz, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933374-22-7 , p. 92.
  26. ↑ Document VEJ 12/116 of 5 May 1943: Katja Happe u. a. (Ed.): The persecution and murder of European Jews by National Socialist Germany 1933–1945 (collection of sources) Volume 12: Western and Northern Europe, June 1942–1945. Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-486-71843-0 , here p. 268.
  27. ↑ documents VEJ 12/122 and VEJ 12/143.
  28. ↑ Document VEJ 12/146.
  29. ↑ VEJ 7/184 in the persecution and murder of European Jews by Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 (source book) Volume 7: Soviet Union annexed areas I - Occupied Soviet territories under German military administration, Baltic states and Transnistria. (edited by Bert Hoppe and Hiltrud Glass), Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-486-58911-5 , p. 524.
  30. ↑ Document VEJ 7/209 in: Bert Hoppe (. Ed), Hiltrud Glass: The persecution and murder of European Jews by Nazi Germany 1933-1945 , Volume 7, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-486-58911-5 , Pp. 569-571.