Human Rights A Day

New Nuremberg laws set forth severe restrictions of the rights of Jews. At a Nazi Party convention in Nuremberg, Germany on September 15, 1935, participants adopted The Nuremberg Laws of Citizenship and Race. “A citizen of the Reich may be only one who is of German or kindred blood, and who, through his behaviour, shows that he is both desirous and personally fit to serve loyally the German people and the Reich.” The purpose was to set out who did not fit “citizenship.” On November 14, 1935, the First Supplementary Decree stated, “A Jew cannot be a Reich citizen.” The laws required a social separation of Jews and non-Jews, and the immediate firing of all Jews who held civil service jobs. Next came “the law for the protection of German blood and German honour.” This forbade Jews from marrying outside their religion, and spelled out elaborate classifications for “Jewishness” – such as “full Jew” or “considered Jewish” – to help government officials determine who got what privileges and punishments. German autho