Jewish mongrel

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Nuremberg laws

The National Socialist and racial term " Jewish mixed race " was defined in the First Ordinance on the Reich Citizenship Act of November 14, 1935. According to this, “Jewish mixed race” were Germans who were descended from one or two “fully Jewish” grandparents , but who had no further connection with Judaism . On the other hand, anyone who - with the same descent from two Jewish grandparents - belonged to the Jewish religious community or was married to a Jew was treated as equal to “full Jews” and referred to as “Jew” - later the term “ valid Jew ” was used for this.

Distinctions

In the case of the marriage ban between Jews and “ German-blooded ” people, which was formulated in accordance with the Nuremberg Race Laws and set out in ordinances, it was important whether a “Jewish mixed race” had two fully Jewish grandparents or only one corresponding grandparent. In a circular issued by Reich Minister of the Interior Wilhelm Frick on November 26, 1935, the terms “Jewish first-degree mixed race” and “Jewish second-degree mixed breed” were coined. The easier-to-understand terms " half-Jew " and "quarter Jew", which first appeared in the Duden in 1941 , were increasingly used in legal commentaries, newspapers and school books .

The “first-degree Jewish mixed race” were exposed to increasing pressure of persecution. Radical anti-Semites in the NSDAP , in the staff of the Deputy Leader and in the Reich Main Security Office pushed for this group to be deported “to the East” as well and thus included in the extermination of the Jews .

Numbers

The number of Jews living in Germany was far overestimated by the National Socialists. Reichsärzteführer Leonardo Conti and the Reich Ministry of the Interior erroneously assumed in 1935 that in addition to the “full Jews” there were 750,000 “half-breeds” living in Germany.

In fact, the total number of "half-breeds" for 1933 is seriously estimated at 150,000. Around ten percent of the “first-degree half-breeds” were Jewish, and only one percent of the “second-degree half-breeds”. According to the definition of the First Ordinance on the Reich Citizenship Act, the majority of the half-breeds were legally classified as "Jewish half-breeds".

In 1939 there were still around 330,000 Jews and 64,000 "first-degree Jewish mongrels", 7,000 "recognized Jews" and 42,000 "second degree Jewish mongrels" with only one Jewish grandparent living in Germany (in the “Altreich” excluding Austria).

Marriage restriction from 1935

The Reich Citizenship Law had 1,935 all "Jewish half-breeds" a (provisional) "Empire citizenship" awarded and thus better off than "Jews" and "Jews validity". Within this privileged group of "half-breeds", "second degree Jewish half-breeds" who had only one Jewish grandparent were clearly preferred: According to the National Socialist view, the racially precious Aryan blood of these "quarter Jews" should be preserved; the small percentage of Jewish blood would fade in the course of generations. Therefore, "second degree Jewish mixed race" were allowed to marry "German bloods" after 1935. On the other hand, marriages between two “second degree Jewish half-breeds” should not be concluded. A permit had to be obtained for the marriage of a “first degree Jewish mongrel” with a “second degree mongrel” or a “German-blooded” person. For this purpose, the “physical, mental and character traits of the applicant” were assessed and the deployment in the World War and the family history were assessed. After a lengthy, multi-stage process, the Reich Committee for the Protection of German Blood made a decision that could be approved or rejected by the Reich Ministry of the Interior and the staff of the Deputy Leader . According to Section 7 of the “First Ordinance on the Reich Citizenship Law” and Section 16 of the “First Ordinance for the Execution of the Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor” of November 14, 1935 (RGBl. I, 1334), Hitler himself had the final decision Reserved.

Such requests were seldom granted; After 1942, applications for “exemption from the provisions of Section 7” and applications by “valid Jews” for a more favorable classification for the duration of the war were no longer accepted.

Violations of the marriage law created by the National Socialists, for example through marriage abroad, were punished as " racial disgrace ".

Growing pressure to persecute

"Jewish half-breeds" were not affected in the same way by the persecution to which the Jews were exposed during the Nazi era . They did not have to pay a Jewish property tax, did not wear a Jewish star and were spared the deportation . However, strong forces within the NSDAP repeatedly demanded that any preferential treatment of the “first-degree Jewish half-breeds” be lifted and persistently tried to remove the more favorable classification of “half-breeds”.

In August 1941, Adolf Eichmann convened a conference at which representatives of the NSDAP's Racial Policy Office , the Reich Security Main Office and the NSDAP Party Chancellery coordinated Jewish policy in the occupied eastern territories; according to this, "half-breeds" should basically be considered Jews. Indeed it was done in the Eastern Occupied Territories; only in Slovakia and Croatia were “half-breeds” spared from extermination. At the beginning of 1942, Reinhard Heydrich suggested at the Wannsee Conference that German "first degree half-breeds" should be included in the deportations ; others advocated compulsory sterilization . These plans were not implemented, but the situation of the “Jewish mixed race” remained uncertain. In May 1942, Adolf Hitler announced a tightened pace against the "half-breeds". In fact, the pressure of persecution increased and from 1942 the livelihood of “first-degree Jewish mixed race” deteriorated in many fields. On November 5, 1942, the Reich Security Main Office decreed that “first-degree Jewish half-breeds” who were imprisoned in concentration camps within the Reich, as well as “full Jews” captured there, should be transferred to Auschwitz or Lublin.

Education restrictions

The law against overcrowding in German schools and universities of April 25, 1933 restricted the access of Jews to higher education institutions , but “Jewish mixed race” were still allowed to attend middle and higher schools. They were able to take the matriculation examination, but this did not entitle them to take up a degree without restriction. From 1937 they were denied a degree in pharmacy or medicine. After the beginning of the war in 1939, “first-degree Jewish half-breeds” were hardly allowed to study; from 1942 the admission of "second degree half-breeds" was handled more restrictively.

The Reich Ministry of Science, Education and Culture intensified for "half-breeds first degree" on 25 October 1940, the restrictions on admission to higher education or its sequel. With a decree of July 2, 1942, "first degree half-breeds" were excluded from attending secondary and secondary schools, and from October 1943 also from vocational schools. They were not allowed to take part in the Kinderlandverschickung (unlike the "second degree mixed race") until 1943, so that they often no longer received regular school lessons. The nationwide restrictions were tightened in some places through the initiative of party officials and school principals, for example by refusing to take part in school trips or banning private music lessons.

"Jewish half-breeds" of both grades were accepted into the General HJ and in 1939 even became compulsory. From October 18, 1941 - apart from a few special cases - only "second degree Jewish mixed race" were permitted. Non-members of the Hitler Youth were excluded from a number of events; for example, they were not allowed to take private music lessons. “Jewish mixed race of the first degree” were excluded from membership of the NSDAP and its branches. Although they could be accepted into other organizations, they could only hold offices there with special permission.

Professional practice

According to the German Civil Service Act of 1937, “Jewish mixed race” of all degrees were to be dismissed from civil servant status. The management of the " German Evangelical Church Chancellery " took over this provision in 1939 and dismissed clergymen and church officials if a Jewish grandparent could be proven. As a rule, only “second-degree Jewish half-breeds” could continue to work as public employees; “Mixed race of the first degree” were released almost without exception. The "Jewish half-breeds" and "should in 1944 from the highest Reich authorities Jewish Versippten " should be removed.

The Reichsärzteführer determined at the end of 1938 that "in the near future" no Jewish mongrel should be appointed as a doctor; First and second degree Jewish mixed race were permitted as pharmacists. Jewish mongrels were excluded from the legal profession as a result of the Civil Service Act, since a three-year employment in the judicial service was required in the training course.

According to a guideline by Goebbels from January 1939, first-degree mixed race and Aryan men with Jewish wives could only be members of the Reich Chamber of Culture with permission, second degree mixed race members , whose membership was a prerequisite for a corresponding professional exercise. Exceptions were generously made, especially for prominent cultural workers. Legal professions and medical professions were also not accessible or only accessible to a limited extent. Employees at the employment office decided whether a “half-breed” received an apprenticeship in the commercial or manual sector or was employed as an unskilled worker.

The Gestapo checked before the war began, all workers in war-important enterprises, not to be left to "half-breeds" in "important points". This could not be maintained as the war continued; In 1942 it was announced that because of the labor shortage "at the present time the fundamental concerns about the employment of mixed Jewish people in armaments factories" had to be postponed. Quite a few "half-breeds" were able to earn a living as highly qualified technicians and even authorized signatories in armaments factories until 1944, while their parents - especially in "mixed marriages" with Jewish husbands - became impoverished and were dependent on support.

Forced labor

Starting in the summer of 1942, consideration was given to using the “first-degree Jewish half-breeds” and “Jewish Versippten” (the “Aryan” spouses in mixed marriages ) in labor battalions. However, according to Ernst Kaltenbrunner's suggestion from the Reich Security Main Office, these should not be grouped into probation battalions of the Wehrmacht like "unworthy of military service ", but rather used in separate formations of the Todt Organization , the so-called Sonderkommando J , "in a particularly tough operation". Finally, after controversial negotiations with the Fuehrer's office and the high command of the Wehrmacht, a decision was made, and in November 1943 Fritz Sauckel, as “general agent for labor”, ordered the “half-breeds” to be deployed at the Todt Organization. At the end of 1943, the campaign started slowly.

From March 1944, the employment services put together groups of one hundred forced laborers each from "unworthy of defense", "first degree Jewish half-breed" and "mixed marriages" and "gypsies". These "special service conscripts" of the Todt Organization had to expand military positions in northern France, remove rubble in Hamburg as "Sonderkommando J" or build an underground hydrogenation plant in Bedburg . However, the implementation across the Reich did not reach the expected extent because the war-important factories withheld their workers. In October 1944 the Gestapo was instructed to pull all male “first-degree Jewish mixed race” and all “Jewish relatives” out of the factories. Nevertheless, the action was not completed until December 1944. Probably far more than ten thousand, perhaps up to twenty thousand mostly male forced laborers from the group of "mixed race" and "Jewish relatives" were drafted for closed work.

Wehrmacht

The changing role of the "half-breeds" in the Wehrmacht has only been partially researched and is confusing: In the professional army, a distinction must be made between officers and team ranks; for conscripts there were different regulations, which moreover changed several times and were temporarily undermined.

As early as February 1934, the Wehrmacht adopted the provisions of the law for the restoration of the civil service and dismissed officers if a single Jewish grandparent could be proven; Longer-serving NCOs and men were accordingly dismissed from service with an order of June 8, 1936. A marriage ban with “non-Aryans” applied to members of the Wehrmacht even before the Nuremberg Laws were passed .

On the other hand, an ordinance of July 25, 1935 ( RGBl. I, p. 1047) allowed “mixed Jewish people” to do active military service; however, they were not allowed to become superiors. By decree of April 8, 1940, “mixed race of the first degree” as well as “Jewish people” were to be released from the Wehrmacht as a matter of principle, but could exceptionally remain in the troops if they had distinguished themselves through particular bravery. Such requests were to be decided by Adolf Hitler himself, who also held out the prospect of classifying these people as "German-blooded" after the war. “Second degree half-breeds” could basically continue to serve with the troops. At the beginning of 1943, consideration was given to reassigning the 8,330 conscripts of mixed race and “ Jewish Versippten ” who had previously been released .

Former NCOs and officers with this status were only allowed to be reinstated or promoted with the “personal approval of the Führer”. From October 1942 such exemptions were no longer granted; Such permits were even revoked in 1944.

Apparently, however, a significant number of “first-degree Jewish half-breeds” remained in the Wehrmacht with the tacit tolerance of their superiors. Many "half-breeds" hoped to later achieve full citizenship rights and their equality through special services in the Wehrmacht. Their service also protected their relatives: Jewish parents were postponed from deportation if it was known that a son was “in the field”.

emigration

Until 1941, the National Socialists' expulsion policy was primarily directed against the group they defined as “full Jews”. Emigration motives of "Jewish mixed race" arose through suffering humiliation, the persecution of relatives, restrictions in education and occupation and marriage restrictions.

Jewish aid organizations, many of which were supported by foreign donors, did not feel responsible for “Jewish mixed race”. The “Vereinigung 1937 e. V. ”, in which mixed race organized, was not officially recognized as an emigration advice center. Christian non-Aryans found support from 1938 onwards from the “Aid at the Bishop's Ordinariate Berlin” or the “ Bureau Grüber ”, which was managed by the social worker Margarete Sommer , but had to do without subsidies from the official church. In the "Ostmark" (Austria) the Gildemeester Fund helped impoverished Jews of non-Mosaic faith to leave the country.

Occupied Territories

The Judenreferat in the Reich Security Main Office tried to influence the decision-making process, which was disputed within the Reich, by creating facts in the western occupation areas as well. In August 1941, Adolf Eichmann, in agreement with Arthur Seyß-Inquart , decided to equate the “half-Jews” living in the Netherlands with full Jews and to deport them. This met with resistance from the Jewish officers in the Reich Ministry of the Interior. From May 1, 1942, “half-Jews” in the Netherlands were also obliged to wear the Jewish star.

In the occupied eastern territories, "half-Jews" and even "quarter Jews" as members of a Jewish religious community were classified indiscriminately as "full Jews".

literature

  • 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 ( Studies on Jewish history. 6), (Partly at the same time: Hamburg, University, dissertation, 1998: Persecution and persecution experiences of “Jewish mixed-race” during the Nazi era ), (First edition: ibid 1999).
  • Wolf Gruner : The Nazi leadership and forced labor for so-called Jewish mixed race. An insight into the planning and practice of anti-Jewish politics in the years 1942 to 1944. In: Manfred Weißbecker , Reinhard Kühnl: Rassismus, Faschismus, Antifaschismus. Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-89438-199-X .
  • Maria von der Heydt: Emigration of “Jewish half-breeds” . In: Susanne Heim , Beate Meyer, Francis R. Nicosia (eds.): "Whoever stays, sacrifices his years, maybe his life." German Jews 1938-1941 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2010.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ First ordinance for the implementation of the law for the protection of German blood and German honor of November 14, 1935 ( RGBl. I, p. 1334 )
  2. Cornelia Schmitz-Berning: Vocabulary of National Socialism. , 2. through and revised Edition, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-11-019549-1 , p. 641 (keyword 'Vierteljude').
  3. Jutta Wietog: censuses under Nazism. Documentation on population statistics in the Third Reich. Berlin 2001 ISBN 342810384X , p. 79.
  4. Wolf Gruner (edit.): The persecution and murder of European Jews by National Socialist Germany 1933–1945 . Vol. 1: German Empire 1933–1937. Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-486-58480-6 , p. 46.
  5. ^ Dieter Maier: Labor deployment and deportation. the involvement of the labor administration in the National Socialist persecution of Jews in the years 1938-1945 Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-89468-127-6 , p. 205.
  6. Beate Meyer: 'Jüdische Mischlinge' - Racial Policy and Persecution Experience 1933-1945. 2nd edition Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933374-22-7 , p. 162 / sa Die Juden and Jewish Mischlinge in the German Reich. In: Census. The population of the German Reich according to the results of the 1939 census. Statistics of the German Reich, vol. 552, no. 4, Berlin 1944 / Beate Meyer gives the following figures for 1939 with Austria and Sudeten German areas: 72,738 "half-Jews" (including approx. 8000 "valid Jews"), including 90% "first degree mixed race", 42,811 "second degree mixed race" In: Beate Meyer: Between rule and exception - 'Jewish mixed race' under special law. In: Magnus Brechtken; Hans-Christian Jasch; Christoph Kreutzmüller; Niels Weise (ed.): The Nuremberg Laws - 80 Years Later: Prehistory, Origin, Effects . Göttingen 2017, ISBN 978-3-8353-3149-5 , p. 207.
  7. ^ First ordinance for the implementation of the law for the protection of German blood and German honor of November 14, 1935 (RGBl. IS 1334).
  8. Beate Meyer: "Jewish mixed race". Racial policy and experience of persecution 1933–1945 . 2nd edition Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933374-22-7 , S. 105th
  9. VEJ 3/202 = The persecution and murder of European Jews by Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 (source book) Volume 3: Empire and Protectorate September 1939 - September 1941 (Edit by Andrea Loew.), Munich 2012, ISBN 978- 3-486-58524-7 , p. 502.
  10. Document VEJ 3/202 In: Andrea Löw (edit.): The persecution and murder of European Jews by National Socialist Germany 1933–1945 (collection of sources), Volume 3: German Reich and Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, September 1939 – September 1941 , Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-486-58524-7 , pp. 501–502 / Beate Meyer: 'Jüdische Mischlinge' … p. 97.
  11. Wolfgang Benz et al. (Ed.): Encyclopedia of National Socialism . Munich 1997, ISBN 3-423-33007-4 , p. 587.
  12. Statement of the Foreign Office regarding the treatment of half-breeds (June 11, 1942) ( Memento of June 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) pdf (accessed on October 31, 2010)
  13. Wolf Gruner: The Nazi leadership and forced labor for so-called Jewish mixed race. An insight into the planning and practice of anti-Jewish politics in the years 1942 to 1944. In: Manfred Weißbecker, Reinhard Kühnl : Rassismus, Faschismus, Antifaschismus. Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-89438-199-X , p. 66.
  14. Document VEJ 6/187 in: Susanne Heim (edit.): The persecution and murder of European Jews by National Socialist Germany 1933–1945 (source collection) Volume 6: German Reich and Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia October 1941 – March 1943. Berlin 2019 , ISBN 978-3-11-036496-5 , pp. 512-513.
  15. Beate Meyer: 'Jüdische Mischlinge'… p. 200f.
  16. Joseph Walk (ed.): The special right for the Jews in the Nazi state. 2nd edition Heidelberg 1996, ISBN 3-8252-1889-9 , p. 328.
  17. Beate Meyer: 'Jüdische Mischlinge'… pp. 192–194.
  18. According to § 2 (3) of the First Implementation Ordinance to the Act on the Hitler Youth of March 25, 1939 (RGBl. I, p. 709), they were not allowed to join the Stamm-Hitler-Jugend.
  19. Joseph Walk (ed.): The special right for the Jews in the Nazi state. 2nd edition Heidelberg 1996, ISBN 3-8252-1889-9 , p. 353.
  20. Beate Meyer: 'Jüdische Mischlinge' ... p. 195.
  21. Beate Meyer: Between rule and exception - 'Jüdische Mischlinge' under special law. In: Magnus Brechtken; Hans-Christian Jasch; Christoph Kreutzmüller; Niels Weise (ed.): The Nuremberg Laws - 80 Years Later: Prehistory, Origin, Effects . Göttingen 2017, ISBN 978-3-8353-3149-5 , p. 208.
  22. Saul Friedländer : The Third Reich and the Jews. Special edition Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-56681-3 , p. 351.
  23. VEJ 2/180 in: Susanne Heim (edit.): The persecution and murder of European Jews by National Socialist Germany 1933-1945 (source collection) Volume 2: German Reich 1938 - August 1939 , Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-486 -58523-0 , p. 511.
  24. VEJ 2/180 in: Susanne Heim (edit.): The persecution and murder of European Jews ... Volume 2: German Reich 1938 - August 1939 , Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-486-58523-0 , pp. 511
  25. ^ John M. Steinert, Jobst Freiherr von Cornberg: Arbitrariness in the arbitrary Hitler and the liberation from anti-Semitic Nuremberg laws . In: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 2nd issue 1998, Oldenburg, Munich 1998, p. 158 ff
  26. a b Beate Meyer: 'Jüdische Mischlinge' ... p. 207.
  27. Beate Meyer: The 'Sonderkommando J.' Forced labor of the 'Jewish Versippten' and the 'Mischlinge first degree' in Hamburg. In: Forced Labor and Society, published by the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial (Amounts on the History of National Socialist Persecution in Northern Germany, Issue 8), Bremen 2004, ISBN 3-86108-379-5 , p. 103.
  28. Wolf Gruner: The Nazi leadership and forced labor for so-called Jewish mongrels ... p. 66/67.
  29. Joseph Walk (ed.): The special right for the Jews in the Nazi state. 2nd edition Heidelberg 1996, ISBN 3-8252-1889-9 , p. 521.
  30. Wolf Gruner: The Nazi leadership and forced labor for so-called Jewish mixed race ... p. 70f - number p. 74.
  31. Beate Meyer: 'Jüdische Mischlinge'… p. 230ff / Bryan Mark Rigg: Juden und Mischlinge in der Wehrmacht, Paderborn 2003, ISBN 3-506-70115-0 , p. 76 estimates the number of Jewish mongrels of conscription age at 117,000 to 190,000 much too high - the total number of mixed race males of all ages was around 50,000 in 1939. Beate Meyer: 'Jewish mixed race' ... , p. 465.
  32. Document VEJ 3/66 in Andrea Loew (Ed.): The persecution and murder of European Jews by Nazi Germany 1933 to 1945 (source book) Volume 3: Empire and Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, September 1939-September 1941 , Munich 2012 , ISBN 978-3-486-58524-7 , p. 194.
  33. Beate Meyer: "Jewish mixed race". Racial policy and experience of persecution 1933–1945 . 2nd edition Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933374-22-7 , p. 231.
  34. Document VEJ 6/219 in: Susanne Heim (edit.): The persecution and murder of European Jews by National Socialist Germany 1933–1945 (source collection) Volume 6: German Reich and Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia October 1941 – March 1943. Berlin 2019 , ISBN 978-3-11-036496-5 . Pp. 584-585.
  35. VEJ 3/66 in: The persecution and murder of European Jews by National Socialist Germany 1933-1945 (source collection) Volume 3: German Reich and Protectorate September 1939 - September 1941 (edited by Andrea Löw), Munich 2012, ISBN 978- 3-486-58524-7 , p. 194.
  36. Saul Friedländer: The Third Reich and the Jews. Special edition Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-56681-3 , p. 675.
  37. Beate Meyer: 'Jüdische Mischlinge' ... p. 232.
  38. Maria von der Heydt: Emigration of "Jewish half-breeds". In: Susanne Heim, Beate Meyer, Francis R. Nicosia (eds.): “Whoever stays, sacrifices his years, maybe his life.” - German Jews 1938-1941. Göttingen 2010, ISBN 978-3-8353-0752-0 , p. 80.
  39. James F. Tent: In the Shadow of the Holocaust. Fate of German-Jewish “half-breeds” in the Third Reich. Böhlau, Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-412-16306-8 , pp. 85–86 / Document VEJ 5/130 in: Katja Happe, Michael Mayer, Maja Peers (arrangement): The persecution and murder of European Jews National Socialist Germany 1933–1945 (source collection) Volume 5: Western and Northern Europe 1940– June 1942. Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-486-58682-4 , p. 369.
  40. VEJ 7/186 = On August 18, 1941, the Reich Commissioner for the East orders how Jews are to be treated. In: Bert Hoppe, Hiltrud Glass (edit.): The persecution and murder of European Jews by National Socialist Germany 1933–1945 (source collection), Volume 7: Soviet Union with annexed areas I - Occupied Soviet areas under German military administration, the Baltic States and Transnistria. Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-486-58911-5 , here p. 528.