Numerus nullus

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Numerus nullus ( Latin no number ) was a ban on Jewish applicants for access to higher education introduced by some Polish universities and several other Central European countries in the 1930s. Numerus nullus was an expanded and discriminatory form of the numerus clausus , the admission restriction.

Poland

In the period between the two world wars, i.e. between 1918 and 1939, the Polish universities were the sites of anti-Jewish riots that increased in intensity and brutality in the 1930s and claimed several lives. The reasons for this were increased competition on the labor market due to the economic crisis and the general increase in anti-Semitism in Polish society. The proportion of Jewish students at Polish universities - especially in many medical and law faculties - was between 20 and 40 percent - significantly more than the proportion of Jews in the Polish population, which averaged 10 percent. In particular, activists of nationalist youth organizations, such as the “ Student Union of All Poland Youth ” ( Młodzież Wszech-polska in Polish ), called for the number of Jewish students to be limited by introducing a numerus nullus and for Jewish and non-Jewish students to be physically separated in the lecture halls. They introduced so-called “Getta ławkowe” (bank ghettos) through specially marked rows of seats for Jews in the lecture halls. A corresponding legislative proposal failed due to constitutional principles, as it violated the principle of equality of the Polish constitution and the minority protection treaty of 1919. Individual universities and particularly sought-after faculties had already introduced internal admission restrictions on their own since 1919. The University of Poznań even practiced a "Numerus nullus" from 1936/37. These restrictions, as well as anti-Jewish harassment and acts of violence at universities, led to a considerable decline in the number of Jewish students at Polish universities in the course of the 1930s.

Hungary

Ever since the authoritarian-conservative government under Reich Administrator Miklós Horthy in the 1920s, there was a willingness in Hungary to adopt anti-Semitic policies - independent of German policies. In 1920, the Hungarian government passed the first anti-Jewish law in Europe since the First World War , the so-called Numerus Clause Law, which stipulated a restriction on Jewish students at universities.

Romania

After the introduction of the "Numerus clausus" directed against Jews in Hungary in 1920, Romanian right-wing radicals also adopted this demand in 1935 under the name Numerus valachicus . (The Romanians also called themselves Wallachians ). On August 29, 1940, the Romanian Minister of Education passed resolution No. 153377, which stipulated that a numerus clausus allowed a maximum of 6% of Jews in each class at all educational levels. Law No. 3438 of October 11, 1940 exacerbated the situation and made the numerus nullus , an absolute ban on the study of Jews in state or private (non-Jewish) educational institutions, including universities.

German Empire

Until 1933 there was no numerus nullus according to the above model in the German Reich , but after the "takeover of power" by the National Socialists a numerus clausus stipulated that the number of "non-Aryans" of the students enrolled in any faculty did not exceed 5 percent, the proportion of Jewish students who are newly enrolled must be below 1.5 percent. Subsequently, Jewish students and so-called “Jewish half-breeds” were gradually denied access to universities.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Monika Natkowska: Numerus clausus, gettoławkowe, numerus nullus, "paragraph aryjski". Antisemitism at the University of Warsaw 1931–1939], Warszawa 1999, ISBN 9788385888161 , p. 166 (Polish).
  2. ↑ Trond Berg Eriksen, Hakon Harket, Einhart Lorenz: Judenhass: The history of anti-Semitism from antiquity to the present . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, October 7, 2019, ISBN 978-3-647-36743-9 , pp. 440 f ..
  3. ↑ Mariana Hausleitner : Anti-Semitism in Romania before 1945, in: Hermann Graml , Angelika Königseder, Juliane Wetzel (eds.): Prejudice and racial hatred. Anti-Semitism in the fascist movements in Europe. Festschrift for Wolfgang Benz , Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-932482-52-2 , pp. 169–178.
  4. ↑ Exclusion of Jews from Romanian Society The report of the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania, Yad Vashem, Chapter 6. November 11, 2004. Retrieved January 15, 2020 (English)
  5. ^ Michael Grüttner : Students in the Third Reich, Paderborn 1995. ISBN 3-506-77492-1 . P. 110.