Figure 1.--After the passage of the Nuremberg Laws it was important to classify people. Germans got Bescheinigung with information about their ancestry. To get important jobs you needed proof of Aryan parentage going back centuries. Jews were identified and classified. There were different levels, full Jews and Mixed (Mischling) First and Second class. I do not at this time know the detsails of the classification and regustration process. This Jewish child is being photographed as part of that process. The photograph was taken in Cologne during 1938 or 1939, presumably as part of a new law requiring Jews to carry identification cards.

We do not know what kind of registration and identification system was in place in the Weimar Republic. We do know that there was no system based on race. This was the system that the the NAZIs inherited when they seized power (1933). We are not sure at this time as to just how the NAZIs went about identifying and registering Jews in Germany. Here the Nuremberg laws (1935) were critical as they defined who legally was a Jew. The law classified many Germans as Jewish, including many who did not think of themselves as Jews. What we are not sure about is the identification and registration process. We know that local NAZIs collected information, but we do not know if there was a national registry or to what extent national registry were coordinated. Nor do we know what documents adults were required to carry on their persons. Nor or we sure at what age children were involved in this process. Many government activities such as municipal records, schools, and other functions as in America were carried out by state (Landen) and local government. Thus there may have been differences in various areas of Germany. Hopefully some HBC readers will be able to add some information and insights to this page.

Weimar Registration

We do not know what kind of registration and identification system was in place in the Weimar Republic. We do know that there was no system based on race. Germans were classified by religion on many public documents. In some areas of Germany, religion was even involved in the taxation system. I do not know,. however, to what extent religio was entered on public documents like birth certificates, school registrations, passports, ect. This was the system that the the NAZIs inherited when they seized power (1933).

Early NAZI Registration Process

We are not sure at this time as to just how the NAZIs went about identifying and registering Jews in Germany immediately after they seized power. We do know that the NAZis had begun to collect information even before they took power. Himmler when he began working in the SS started to complile information on indexcards about individuals who were dangerous to thev NAZIs which included sojme Jews. I assume the SA also compiled information locally. I do not know if there was any effort to centralize this information.

NAZI Racial Policies

Here the Nuremberg laws (1935) were critical as they defined who legally was a Jew. The law classified many Germans as Jewish, including many who did not think of themselves as Jews. Geman Führer Adolf Hitler at the Nuremberg Party Congress on September 15, 1935 announced three new laws that were to be cornerstones of German racist policies and the supression of Jews and other non-Aryans. These decrees became known as the Nuremberg Laws. They were decrees which in NAZI gErmany had the force of law forbidding contacts between Aryan Germans and Jews, espcecially marriage and srtipping Jewsof German citizenship. The first 1935 decree established the swastika as the official emblem of the German state. The second established special conditions for German citizenship that exclided all Jews. The third titled "The Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor" prohibited marrige between German citizens and Jews. Marriages violating this law were voided and extra-marital relations prohibited. Jews were prohibuted from hiring female Germans under 45 years of age. Jews were also prohibuted from flying the national flag. The first three Nuremberg Laws were subsequently supplemented with 13 further decrees, the last issued as late as 1943, as the NAZIs constantly refined the supression of non-Aryans. These laws affected millions of Germans, the exact number depending n precisely how a Jew was defined. That definition was published November 14, 1935. The NAZIs defined a Jew as anyone who either 1) had three or four racially full Jewish grandparents, 2) belonged to a Jewish religious community or joined one after September 15 when the Nuremberg Laws came into force. Also regarded as Jews was anyone married to a Jew or the children of Jewish parents. This included illegtimate children of even the non-Jewish partner. There appears to have been no serious public objection to these laws. [Davidson, p. 161.]

Registration

What we are not sure about is the identification and registration process. We know that local NAZIs collected information, but we do not know if there was a national registry or to what extent national registry were coordinated. Many government activities such as municipal records, schools, and other functions as in America were carried out by state (Landen) and local government.

Regional Differences

Thus there may have been differences in various areas of Germany.

Required Documents

Nor do we know what documents adults were required to carry on their persons.

Children

We do noy know at what stage children were involved in the identification process. We do know that children who wanted to enterv secondary schools after completing primary school had to have their parents afirm their Aryan ancestry. This continued to be important even after Jewish children were expelled from the state school system because Mischling were still in the state schools.

Operation Anti-social (June 15, 1938)

The NAZIs launch Operation Anti-social. Jews in jails as wll as Jews with a criminal records are arrested and sent to concentration camps. Criminal records included both criminals and Jews who had violated the increasingly restrictive laws and regulations aimed at Jews.

Identification Cards (July 1938)

A new law passed during July, 1938, required Jews to carry identification cards. I assume that this did not include small childremn, but do not have details about the specoifics of the law. The law became effective January 1, 1939. The child being photographed here is probably being photographed as part of that process (figure 1). The child wears the number 542 on his chest as though he were already a criminal. The photographer's assistant is posing the boy so that his face can be photographed accurately to show supposedly Jewish physical traits or characteristics. We know what this child could not have imagined that this bureauocratic, cold-blooded ritual of photographic registration was one step in the later to deportation to a death camp.

Kristallnacht (November 1938)

We know local NAZI Party offices had detailed information about Jewish families all over Germany. This included the addresses and information about the family. This was used on Kristallnacht to break into Jewish business and homes yto loot and terrorize. Many of the men including older teenafers were arrested. This meant that the NAZIs had detailed information on Jewish families. We are not sure, however, to what extent the data was collated centrally. Nor are we sure just wjo had access to it.

World War II (September 1939)

We do not know what changes were made in the documents that had to be carries during the War. Nor so we know if there were differences made in the registration process. We do know that when rationing was instituted that this created a new set of documennts that had to be obrained and used. This also forced many Jews to remain in the system rather than hiding because the rationing documents were needed to obtain food and clothing.

Yellow Stars (September 1941)

Reinhard Heydrich suggested that Jews be forced to wear badges following the Kristallnacht pogrom (November 1938). This went far beyond an identification cards, allow for their easy identification by anyone. The stars were not, however, immediately introduced in Germany. After the NAZI invasion and occupation of Poland (September 1939)Jews in German-occupied Poland forced to wear an arm band or yellow star (November 23, 1939). This measure wasintroduced about 2 years later in Germany itself (september 1, 1941). All Jews 6 years old and older had to wear it outside their home. I do not have details at this time. In other areas, Jews had to wear the star on the front and back of their clothing. I assume the same was true in Germany, but do not have any details at this time. Nor do I know of the spevcific design. I assume it was a yellow Jewish six-point star wih the word "Jude". These badges varied somewhat throughout NAI controlled Europe.

Sources

Davidson, Eugene. The Unmaking of Adolf Hitler (Univesity of Missouri: Columbia, 1996), 519p.

Created: June 2, 2004
Last updated: June 2, 2004