Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

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the same time permitted them to display ‘the Jewish colours.’ 19 Das
Reichsbürgergesetz introduced a new category of civil law, namely that of ‘citizen
with German blood,’ endowed with full political rights. A Jew, by contrast, could
only now be a ‘subject of the state’ 20 and for this reason this law was pivotal. The
ensuing ordinances of this law stripped Jews of all legal rights and possessions
and ultimately destroyed them. 21 The reinforcement of the image of the Jews as
racially separate and as contaminators of everything features prominently in
directives, laws and edicts. With the application of the Nuremberg Laws the Jews
of Magdeburg were also targeted in the judiciary, as they were now without rights.
The impact of the Nuremberg Laws in Magdeburg was immediate. Gerry Levy
recalled that his paternal uncle, Herbert Levy, had a non-Jewish partner at the time
and they had a daughter, Jutta, aged approximately six years old. He married his
partner as a matter of urgency prior to the laws taking effect, as if he had not he
could have been accused of ‘Rassenschande.’ 22 The application of these laws
shocked all community members, as they were now subjected to a very public
demonisation and had no possibility of recourse through the legal system.
Nevertheless, ironically, the laws also clarified for the Jews their position in the
new Germany. 23
19
Reichsgesetzblatt, Teil 1, 16. September 1935, Nr. 100 Berlin: 1935, Collection JM,
File 10625, YVA, pp. 141–142.
20
Reichsausschuss für Volksgesundheit, Das Reichsbürgergesetz vom 15. September
1935 und Das Gesetz zum Schutze des deutschen Blutes und der deutschen Ehre vom
15. September 1935 mit Ausführungsverordnungen vom 14. November und 21.
November 1935, Bestand Rep. C 28 I g, Signatur Nr. 460, Band 3, LHASA MD, op.
cit., pp. 33–44.
21
Barkai, “Exclusion and Persecution: 1933–1938,” in Meyer, ed., op. cit., pp. 210–
211.
22
Levy, op. cit., 7 November 1996.
23
For a complete discussion on the reaction of the Jewish community to the
Nuremberg Laws see Abraham Margaliot, “The Reaction of the Jewish Public in
Germany to the Nuremberg Laws,” Yad Vashem Studies, vol. XII, 1977, pp. 75–107