The Nuremberg Laws on Citizenship and Race:
September 15, 1935
The Reich Citizenship Law of September 15, 1935
THE REICHSTAG HAS ADOPTED by unanimous vote the following law
which is herewith promulgated.
ARTICLE 1.
(1) A subject of the state is one who belongs to the
protective union of the German Reich, and who, therefore, has
specific obligations to the Reich.
(2) The status of subject is to be acquired in accordance with
the provisions of the Reich and the state Citizenship Law.
ARTICLE 2.
(1) A citizen of the Reich may be only one who is of
German or kindred blood, and who, through his behavior, shows
that he is both desirous and personally fit to serve loyally the
German people and the Reich.
(2) The right to citizenship is obtained by the grant of Reich
citizenship papers.
(3) Only the citizen of the Reich may enjoy full political
rights in consonance with the provisions of the laws.
ARTICLE 3. The Reich Minister of the Interior, in conjunction
with the Deputy to the führer, will issue the required
legal and administrative decrees for the implementation and
amplification of this law.
Promulgated: September 16, 1935. In force:
September 30, 1935.
First Supplementary Decree of November 14, 1935
On the basis of Article III of the Reich Citizenship Law of
September 15, 1935, the following is hereby decreed:
ARTICLE 1. (1) Until further provisions concerning citizenship
papers, all subjects of German or kindred blood who possessed the
right to vote in the Reichstag elections when the
Citizenship Law came into effect, shall, for the present, possess
the rights of Reich citizens. The same shall be true of those
upon whom the Reich Minister of the Interior, in conjunction with
the Deputy to the führer shall confer citizenship.
(2) The Reich Minister of the Interior, in conjunction with
the Deputy to the führer, may revoke citizenship.
ARTICLE 2. (1) The provisions of Article I shall apply also to
subjects who are of mixed Jewish blood.
(2) An individual of mixed Jewish blood is one who is
descended from one or two grandparents who, racially, were full
Jews, insofar that he is not a Jew according to Section 2 of
Article 5. Full-blooded Jewish grandparents are those who
belonged to the Jewish religious community.
ARTICLE 3. Only citizens of the Reich, as bearers of full
political rights, can exercise the right of voting in political
matters, and have the right to hold public office. The Reich
Minister of the Interior, or any agency he empowers, can make
exceptions during the transition period on the matter of holding
public office. The measures do not apply to matters concerning
religious organizations.
ARTICLE 4. (1) A Jew cannot be a citizen of the Reich. He
cannot exercise the right to vote; he cannot hold public office.
(2) Jewish officials will be retired as of December 31, 1935.
In the event that such officials served at the front in the World
War either for Germany or her allies, they shall receive as
pension, until they reach the age limit, the full salary last
received, on the basis of which their pension would have been
computed. They shall not, however, be promoted according to
their seniority in rank. When they reach the age limit, their
pension will be computed again, according to the salary last
received on which their pension was to be calculated.
(3) These provisions do not concern the affairs of religious
organizations.
(4) The conditions regarding service of teachers in public
Jewish schools remains unchanged until the promulgation of new
laws on the Jewish school system.
ARTICLE 5 (1) A Jew is an individual who is descended from at
least three grandparents who were, racially, full Jews...
(2) A Jew is also an individual who is descended from two
full-Jewish grandparents if:
(a) he was a member of the Jewish religious community when
this law was issued, or joined the community later;
(b) when the law was issued, he was married to a person who
was a Jew, or was subsequently married to a Jew;
(c) he is the issue from a marriage with a Jew, in the sense
of Section I, which was contracted after the coming into
effect of the Law for the Protection of German Blood and
Honor of September 15, 1935;
(d) he is the issue of an extramarital relationship with a
Jew, in the sense of Section I, and was born out of
wedlock after July 31, 1936.
ARTICLE 6. (1) Insofar as there are, in the laws of the Reich
or in the decrees of the National Socialist German Workers' Party
and its affiliates, certain requirements for the purity of German
blood which extend beyond Article 5, the same remain
untouched....
ARTICLE 7. The führer and Chancellor of the Reich is
empowered to release anyone from the provisions of these
administrative decrees.
This document is also available at:
Nuremberg Laws 1935
Nuremberg Laws 1935: Yale Avalon Project
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