The Purpose of the Nuremberg Laws and its Specific Provisions

The Nuremberg laws were a set of statutes and provisions passed in Nazi Germany in 1935 designed to institutionalize racial segregation and discrimination against Jews (Moschel, 2019). These laws were vital to the Nazi administration’s objectives to establish a “pure” Aryan society and further their racial purity ideology. The statutes marked a critical era in Germany that saw many Jews flee the country to escape the persecution and violence that the Nuremberg laws engendered (Vermont, 2019). Jews could not enter the fields of medicine, law, or academia. Boycotts and physical attacks were also directed at them. The rules opened the stage for the Holocaust by providing legal cover for the systematic extermination of Jews throughout Europe.

Purpose of the Nuremberg Laws

The primary purpose of the Nuremberg laws was to define the legal status of Jews in Nazi Germany. These statutes aimed to provide the legal underpinnings for the systematic discrimination and persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany and criminalize any behavior that violated the racial hierarchy that the Nazis sought to establish (Moschel, 2019). The Nuremberg laws were part of a broader effort by the Nazi regime to create a “racially pure” German society. This regime was in line with the Nazi’s ideology of racial superiority, which held that Jews were inferior and were to be excluded from the German community. The Nuremberg laws also served as a tool for the Nazis to consolidate their power and further their racial discrimination agenda (Laubscher, 2018). They intended to discriminate against and marginalize Jews, who were seen as inferior and undesirable by the Nazi regime. These laws were designed to ostracize Jews from society, prevent them from participating in economic, cultural, and political life, and ultimately pave the way for their extermination.

Specific Provisions of the Nuremberg Laws

The Nuremberg laws consisted of two main provisions: the “Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor” and the “Reich Citizenship Law.” As established in the “Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor,” Jews and non-Jews were not allowed to marry or have sexual contact with one another (Laubscher, 2018). This law was designed to prevent “racial pollution” and to preserve the purity of the Aryan race. German women under 45 were likewise barred from working in Jewish families through this law. This law also prohibited the public display of Jewish religious symbols.

The “Reich Citizenship Law” denied Jews their German nationality and defined who was considered a Jew under Nazi law (Laubscher, 2018). This law classified individuals as either “Reich citizens,” “state subjects,” or “aliens.” Reich citizens were considered full members of the German nation, while state subjects were non-Jews living in Germany who did not have full citizenship rights. Aliens were non-Germans living in Germany who had no rights at all. Jews were classified as state subjects and were denied the rights and privileges of Reich citizens.