Laws and Acts
During the first six years of Hitler's reign, from 1933 to 1939, Jews were faced with more than 400 decrees and regulations that placed restrictions on all aspects of their public and private lives. Many of these laws were issued by the German administration and affected all Jews. Hundreds of individuals in all levels of government throughout the country were involved in the persecution of Jews as they conceived, enforced, and supported anti-Jewish legislation.
Start of the Aryan Paragraph
The first major law issued to restrict the Jewish citizens was "Law for Restoration of the Professional Civil Service" issued on April 7, 1933. Under this, Jewish and "politically unreliable" civil servants and employees were excluded from state service. This law started the first of many laws proposed by the Germans in their attempt to create a "Aryan Paragraph," a kind of regulation that excluded Jews from organizations, professions, and other aspects of life.
Nuremburg Laws
At their annual party rally in Nuremburg in September 1935, Nazi leaders announced new laws that institutionalized many of the racial theories prevalent in the Nazi ideology. These laws, called "Nuremburg Laws" excluded German Jews from Reich citizenship and prohibited them from marrying or having sexual relation with "Germans or German related-blood." Jews were disenfranchised and could not hold public office.
The first amendment to the Nuremburg Laws defined anyone who had at least three or four Jewish grandparents, regardless of if that individual recognized himself or herself as a Jew or belonged to a Jewish community, as Jews. Many Germans who had not practiced Judaism in years still found themselves under the Nazi terror. Even those with Jewish grandparents who had converted to Christianity could be defined as Jews.
The first amendment to the Nuremburg Laws defined anyone who had at least three or four Jewish grandparents, regardless of if that individual recognized himself or herself as a Jew or belonged to a Jewish community, as Jews. Many Germans who had not practiced Judaism in years still found themselves under the Nazi terror. Even those with Jewish grandparents who had converted to Christianity could be defined as Jews.
Enabling Act
The Enabling Act of 1933 allowed the Cabinet to introduce legislation without it first going through the Reichstag. It gave Hitler huge power over all aspects of life in Nazi Germany.
"By its decision to carry out the political and moral cleansing of our public life, the Government is creating and securing the conditions for a really deep and inner religious life… " - Hitler
"The struggle against the materialistic ideology and for the erection of a true people's community (Volksgemeinschaft) serves as much the interests of the German nation as of our Christian faith…" -Hitler
"The government will make use of these powers only insofar as they are essential for carrying out vitally necessary measures...The number of cases in which an internal necessity exists for having recourse to such a law is in itself a limited one…"-Hitler
"The authority of the Führer has now been wholly established. Votes are no longer taken. The Führer decides. All this is going much faster than we had dared to hope." - Joseph Goebbels