Source
I. The Reich Citizenship Law of September 15, 1935
The Reichstag has unanimously adopted the following law, which is herewith promulgated.
§ 1.
(1) A subject of the State is a person who belongs to
the protective union of the German Reich, and who therefore has
particular obligations towards the Reich.
(2) The status of
subject is acquired in accordance with the provisions of the Reich
and State Law of Citizenship.
§ 2.
(1) A citizen of the Reich is only that subject who
is of German or kindred blood and who, through his conduct, shows
that he is both willing and able to faithfully serve the German
people and Reich.
(2) The right to citizenship is acquired by
the granting of Reich citizenship papers.
(3) Only the
citizen of the Reich enjoys full political rights in accordance
with the provision of the law.
§ 3.
The Reich Minister of the Interior in conjunction
with the Deputy of the Führer will issue the necessary legal and
administrative decrees for implementing and supplementing this
law.
Nuremberg, September 15, 1935
Führer and Reich Chancellor
Adolf Hitler
Reich Minister of the Interior
Frick
II. First Regulation to the Reich Citizenship Law of November 14, 1935
On the basis of § 3, Reich Citizenship Law, of September 15, 1935 (Reichsgesetzblatt I, page 1146) the following is ordered:
§ 1.
(1) Until further regulations regarding citizenship
papers are issued, all subjects of German or kindred blood who
possessed the right to vote in Reichstag elections at the time the
Citizenship Law came into effect shall, for the time being,
possess the rights of Reich citizens. The same shall be true of
those to whom the Reich Minister of the Interior, in conjunction
with the Deputy of the Führer, has given preliminary
citizenship.
(2) The Reich Minister of the Interior, in
conjunction with the Deputy of the Führer, can withdraw
preliminary citizenship.
§ 2.
(1) The regulations in § I are also valid for Reich
subjects of mixed Jewish blood
[Mischlinge].
(2) An
individual of mixed Jewish blood is one who is descended from one
or two grandparents who were fully Jewish by race, insofar as he
or she does not count as a Jew according to § 5, Paragraph 2. One
grandparent shall be considered as full-blooded if he or she
belonged to the Jewish religious community.
§ 3.
Only the Reich citizen, as bearer of full political
rights, exercises the right to vote in political affairs or can
hold public office. The Reich Minister of the Interior, or any
agency empowered by him, can make exceptions during the transition
period, with regard to occupying public offices. The affairs of
religious organizations will not be affected.
§ 4.
(1) A Jew cannot be a citizen of the Reich. He has no
right to vote in political affairs; he cannot occupy a public
office.
(2) Jewish civil servants will retire as of 31
December 1935. If these civil servants served at the front in the
World War, either for Germany or her allies, they will receive in
full, until they reach the age limit, full pension to which they
were entitled according to the last salary they received; they
will, however, not advance in seniority. After reaching the age
limit, their pensions will be calculated anew, according to the
last salary they received, on the basis of which their pension was
calculated.
(3) The affairs of religious organizations will
not be affected.
(4) The employment status of teachers in
Jewish public schools remains unchanged until new regulations for
the Jewish school system are issued.
§ 5.
(1) A Jew is anyone who descended from at least three
grandparents who were fully Jewish by race. § 2, par. 2, second
sentence will apply.
(2) A Jew is also anyone who descended
from two fully Jewish grandparents, if:
(a) he belonged to
the Jewish religious community at the time this law was issued or
joined the community later;
(b) he was married to a Jewish
person at the time the law was issued or married one
subsequently;
(c) he is the offspring from a marriage with a
Jew, in the sense of Section 1, which was contracted after the Law
for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor became
effective (Reichsgesetzblatt I,
page 1146 of September 15, 1935);
(d) he is the offspring of
an extramarital relationship with a Jew, according to Section 1,
and is born out of wedlock after July 31, 1936.
§ 6.
(1) In case Reich laws or orders by the NSDAP and its
organizations make demands for racial pureness that exceed § 5,
they will not be affected.
(2) Any other demands for pureness
of blood that exceed § 5 can only be made with the consent of the
Reich Minister of the Interior and the Deputy of the Führer. If
any such demands have been made, they will be void as of January
1, 1936, if they have not been approved by the Reich Minister of
the Interior in agreement with the Deputy of the Führer. These
requests must be made to the Reich Minister of the Interior.
§ 7.
The Führer and Reich Chancellor can grant exemptions
from the regulations laid down in the law.
Berlin, November 14, 1935
Führer and Reich Chancellor
Adolf Hitler
Reich Minister of the Interior
Frick
Deputy of the Führer
R. Hess (Reich Minister without
Portfolio)
Source of English translations: The Reich Citizenship Law of September 15, 1935, and the First Regulation to the Reich Citizenship Law of November 14, 1935. In United States Chief Counsel for the Prosecution of Axis Criminality, Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, Volume IV. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1946. Documents 1416-PS and 1417-PS, pp. 7–10. English translation credited to Nuremberg staff; edited by GHI staff. Available online at: https://www.loc.gov/item/2011525363_NT_Nazi_Vol-IV/
Source of original German texts: Reichsbürgergesetz vom 15. September 1935, Reichsgesetzblatt, 1935, Part I, p. 1146ff (available online at: https://alex.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/alex?aid=dra&datum=1935&size=45&page=1288), and Erste Verordnung zum Reichsbürgergesetz vom 14. November 1935, Reichsgesetzblatt, 1935, Part I, p. 1333 (available online at: https://alex.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/alex?aid=dra&datum=1935&size=45&page=1479); both are reprinted in Paul Meier-Benneckenstein, ed., Dokumente der deutschen Politik, volume 3: Deutschlands Weg zur Freiheit 1935, edited by Axel Friedrichs. Berlin, 1937, pp. 153–54, 157–58.