The Nuremberg Race Laws | Holocaust Encyclopedia https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-nuremberg-rac...

THE NUREMBERG RACE LAWS

0:00 / 6:35

Listen to an audio version of this article

What were the Nuremberg Race Laws? !

On September 15, 1935, the Nazi regime announced two new laws
related to race:

• The Reich Citizenship Law

• The Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor

These laws informally became known as the Nuremberg Laws or

Nuremberg Race Laws. This is because they were first announced at a
Nazi Party rally held in the German city of Nuremberg.

Why did the Nazis enact the Nuremberg Race

Laws? !

The Nazis enacted the

The Nuremberg Nuremberg Laws, because they
Race Laws wanted to put their ideas about
race into law. They believed in
the false theory that the world is
divided into distinct races that
are not equally strong and
valuable. The Nazis considered
Germans to be members of the
supposedly superior “Aryan” race.
They saw the so-called Aryan
German race as the strongest,

1 of 4 16/02/2024, 11:13
The Nuremberg Race Laws | Holocaust Encyclopedia https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-nuremberg-rac...

and most valuable race of all.

According to the Nazis, Jews were not Aryans. They thought Jews
belonged to a separate race that was inferior to all other races. The Nazis
believed that the presence of Jews in Germany threatened the German
people. They believed they had to separate Jews from other Germans to
protect and strengthen Germany. The Nuremberg Laws were an
Massed crowds at the 1935 Nazi
important step towards achieving this goal.
Party rally in Nuremberg

What was the Reich Citizenship Law?

Spectators in the stands of the
Zeppelinfeld look on as Adolf
!

TheHitler's car moves

Nazi Party hadtowards
alwaysthe
promised that, if they came to power, only
speakers' platform at the opening of
racially pure Germans would be allowed to hold German citizenship. The
Reichsparteitag (Reich Party Day)
Reich Citizenship
ceremonies Law made
in Nuremberg. Thethis a reality. This law defined a citizen as a
Zeppelinfeld
person who is was
“of part of the or
German Nazi
related blood.” This meant that Jews,
Party rally grounds. Nuremberg,
defined as aSeptember
Germany, separate 1935.
race, could not be full citizens of Germany. They
had no political rights.

What was the Law for the Protection of German

Blood and German Honor? !

The Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor was a
law against what the Nazis viewed as race-mixing or “race defilement”
(“Rassenschande”). It banned future intermarriages and sexual relations
between Jews and people “of German or related blood.” The Nazis
believed that such relationships were dangerous because they led to
“mixed race” children. According to the Nazis, these children and their
descendants undermined the purity of the German race.

Who was Jewish according to the Nuremberg

Laws? !

According to the Nuremberg Laws, a person with three or four Jewish

grandparents was a Jew. A grandparent was considered Jewish if they
belonged to the Jewish religious community. Thus, the Nazis defined
Jews by their religion (Judaism), and not by the supposed racial traits
that Nazism attributed to Jews.

2 of 4 16/02/2024, 11:13
The Nuremberg Race Laws | Holocaust Encyclopedia https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-nuremberg-rac...

The laws also categorized some people in Germany as “Mischlinge”

(“mixed-race persons”). According to law, Mischlinge were neither
German nor Jewish. These were people who had one or two Jewish
grandparents.

The Nazi regime required individuals to prove their grandparents’ racial

identities. To do so, people used religious records. These included
baptism records, Jewish community records, and gravestones.

Did the Nuremberg Laws apply to other groups?

!

Yes. While initially focused on Jews, the Nazi government clarified that
the Nuremberg Laws also applied to Roma " (also called Gypsies), Black
people, and their descendants. They could not be full citizens of
Germany. Nor could they marry or have sexual relations with “people of
German or related blood.”

What were the consequences of the Nuremberg

Laws? !

The Nuremberg Laws changed the everyday lives of Jews in Germany by

making Jews legally different from their non-Jewish neighbors. In the
years that followed, the Nazi regime enacted more and more anti-Jewish
laws and decrees. These later laws relied on the definition of “Jew” as
defined in the Nuremberg Laws. Examples of these other laws or decrees
include:

• The Law on the Alteration of Family and Personal Names (August

1938)

• The Decree on Passports of Jews (October 1938)

• The Police Regulation on the Marking of Jews (September 1941)

The Nuremberg Laws were an important step in the Nazi regime’s

process of isolating and excluding Jews from the rest of German society.

Key Dates !

3 of 4 16/02/2024, 11:13
The Nuremberg Race Laws | Holocaust Encyclopedia https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-nuremberg-rac...

August 17, 1938

Law on the Alteration of Family and Personal Names

On August 17, 1938, the Law on the Alteration of Family and Personal
Names sets new name requirements for Jews in Germany. This law states
that Jews can only be given specific Jewish first names. New Jewish
parents must choose a name from a government-approved list. Also, any
Jew who does not already have a name from this list, must add an
additional first name: “Israel” (for men) and “Sara” (for women).
Individuals have to report their new names to government offices. They
also have to use both their given and added first names for business
transactions.

October 5, 1938
Decree on Passports of Jews

The Nazi regime invalidates the German passports of all German Jews.
For their passports to become valid again, German Jews must submit
them to a passport office so that they can be stamped with the letter “J.”
The decree specifies that this applies to the passports of German Jews as
defined by the Nuremberg Laws.

September 1, 1941
Police Regulation on the Marking of Jews

Beginning in September 1941, all Jews in Nazi Germany are required to

wear a special yellow badge in public. The badge must be a palm-sized,
yellow six-pointed star with black lines outlining the Star of David. " The
star must have the word “Jude” (German for “Jew”) written in the middle.
It must be visible anytime a Jew appears in public. Specifically, Jews are
required to sew this yellow star " onto the left breast of their clothes.
This order applies to all German Jews (as defined by the Nuremberg
Laws) who are six years old and older. Germans categorized as
Mischlinge do not have to wear the star.

Last Edited: Jul 2, 2021

4 of 4 16/02/2024, 11:13