“Rassenschande” (race disgrace, also racial defilement), also “Blutschande” (blood-disgrace), was the term for the forbidden intercourse between nationals of German and so-called related blood on the one hand, as well as “Jews” on the other hand in Nazi Germany until 1945. Even before the Nuremberg Laws were passed, people accused of racial defilement were publicly humiliated. Posters were hung around their necks by the SS, which accused them of racial defilement, and they were then led through the streets.
Contrary to the original requirement that the prohibited intercourse was exclusively sexual intercourse, this restriction was quickly extended to a much wider range. Stuckart and Globke also included mutual masturbation and the District Court in Augsburg argued that the law also sought to protect “gender honour.” The broadest interpretation was then laid by the large criminal senate of the Reichsgericht in its judgment on 09.12.1936. All acts which served to satisfy the sex drive of at least one partner, i.e. masturbation in the presence of the partner, had thus been covered by the prohibition.
Content
Definition
Background
Völkisch Background
Race theoretical foundations according to Hans F. K. Günther
Legal Framework
Nuremberg Laws
Criminal prosecution
Public Opinion
Representation in novels
Bibliography
List of figures
Further Information
Videos
Learning Materials to related concepts
Further Materials
Definition
Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten
Figure : Humiliation ofChristine Neemann andjulius Wolff for racial defilement (Norden, 22July 1935)
“Rassenschande” (race disgrace, also racial defilement), also “Blutschande” (blood-disgrace), was the term for the forbidden intercourse between nationals of German and so-called related blood on the one hand, as well as “Jews” on the other hand in Nazi Germany until 1945.[1],[2] Even before the Nuremberg Laws were passed, people accused of racial defilement were publicly humiliated. Posters were hung around their necks by the SS, which accused them of racial defilement, and they were then led through the streets.1 2 3
Contrary to the original requirement that the prohibited intercourse was exclusively sexual intercourse4, this restriction was quickly extended to a much wider range. Stuckart and Globke also included mutual masturbation and the District Court in Augsburg argued that the law also sought to protect “gender honour.” The broadest interpretation was then laid by the large criminal senate of the Reichsgericht in its judgment on 09.12.1936. All acts which served to satisfy the sex drive of at least one partner, i.e. masturbation in the presence of the partner, had thus been covered by the prohibition.5
Background
Völkisch Background
The base for the development of the concept of “racial disgrace” in Nazi Germany was the völkisch anti-Semitism that had been developing since 1871. The different völkisch movements were united by the idea that "Germanism" had to be renewed. For this purpose, “elementary forces” that were hidden in the “German soul” of the people were to be revived.6 According to Woltmann, the Germanic peoples were the youngest of the races, descending from the mythical and disappeared “Aryans.” At that time, however, the völkisch idea was still limited to religious reasons; the desired renewal was to take place through prayers, for example and was consequently reflected in blasphemy processes.7
In 1930, Gerstenhauer compared Judaism to poison for the German soul, which had to be eliminated and kept away in future, otherwise German culture would be threatened with extinction. In 1941 Streicher equated "the Jew" with the devil and called for their extermination.8
Race theoretical foundations according to Hans F. K. Günther
Hans F. K. Günther’s book Racial characteristics ofthe Jewish People (Rassenkunde des jüdischen Volkes) was the single most cited book, when it came to racist Jewish studies in Nazi Germany. Günther, who had studied as a linguist and had not undertaken any formal training as an anthropologist or in any science, published the contents of his book originally as an appendice to his book The Racial Characteristics of the German People (Rassenkunde des deutschen Volkes).9 “The Racial Characteristics of the German People” went through 16 editions between 1922 and 1934, among other things because of the plethora of contradictions which were revealed by anthropologists.10
In his work “The Racial Characteristics of the German People” Günther defined only four, later six different races in total and claimed that the Germans were a mixture of these races. To justify these classifications, he used a mixture of anthropometric measurements and personal observations. At the same time, he made the claim that these races dated back to prehistoric times and that new races could never arise when two parents of different races conceived a child. Instead, these so-called “Mischlinge” (children of mixed parentage or “Mutts”) were a mess of parental characteristics.11
The racial concept described by Günther was a complex structure, based primarily on his assertion that mental dispositions and inner abilities would always correspond to certain external characteristics. The different races were also unchangeable in these combinations.12 13 14 In this concept it was not possible to produce a real mixture, instead these different characteristics fight against each other in the body and mind of the “Mutts” and as a result there is a degeneration.[13],[14]
From Günther's race descriptions, he considered the Nordic race to be the best; he assigned the development of all great European cultures to them. He tried to explain the decline of these cultures analogously with the mixing of this Nordic race with other races.15 According to Günther, the mixing of the Nordic race with foreign peoples was already far advanced, this resulting loss of skills had to be counteracted by “Wiedervernordung” (Re-Northernization). From this he concluded that mixed marriages were racial disgrace, as they would prevent the “Re-Northernization.”16
Legal Framework
Nuremberg Laws
The prohibition of intercourse between nationals of German or related blood and Jews was laid down by law in the Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour (Gesetz zum Schutz des deutschen Blutes und der deutschen Ehre) on 15.09.1935.17 However, the first draft was submitted by the Ministry of Justice two years earlier, in July 1933.18 Before the announcement of the law at the Nuremberg Party Congress, a total of four different drafts were prepared on Hitler's behalf. These
fluctuated greatly in their scope; version A for example also declared “quarter Jews” as “full Jews” and was accordingly the most restrictive. Version D, on the contrary, was the narrowest designed, with the ban only affecting “full Jews.” Hitler eventually signed version D but removed a sentence; the draft's restriction to “full Jews”, ensuring that potentially all persons with any number of Jewish ancestors could fall under the law again. However, in order to temporarily preserve the appearance of moderation, the deleted sentence was retained in the first publication at Hitler's instruction and only later removed.19 considered “German-blooded”.20 “Half Jews” descended from two Jewish grandparents and were covered by this law if they belonged to the Jewish religious community, were married to a “Jew”, descended from a marriage with a “Full Jew” which was concluded after 15.09.1935 or originated from the extramarital intercourse with a “Full Jew ” and were born after 31.06.1936.21
Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten
Figure : Nuremberg Laws Racial Chart from 1935
The group of persons covered was extended in a circular issued by the Ministry of the Interior in November 1935 to other groups such as “Zigeuner, Neger und ihre Bastarde” (Gypsies, negroes and their bastards).22
Criminal prosecution
Investigations into “racial disgrace” were generally carried out by the Gestapo. Robert Gellatelly has analysed the files of the Wurzburg Gestapo and found that 54% of the cases were not initiated by official investigations but by reports from the population. On the other hand, in not a single case were own observations or those of V-people the cause.23
Already in 1933 and 1934 the first legal proceedings were started, although the Nuremberg Laws did not yet exist. When they came into force, however, the number of legal proceedings increased sharply for a while. From 1938 on, the number of complaints decreased steadily and from 1944 on, there were no more complaints for “racial disgrace.” On average, however, between one third and one half of all complaints were dropped because they were found to be false or unfounded.24
Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten
Figure : "Stolpersteine" (step-stones) for two polish forced laborers who were hanged in 1941 for race disgrace
Convicted men had to do forced labour or went to prison, but no punishment was planned for women, as they were always considered the victims. However, they were regularly imprisoned in a concentration camp on the pretext of protective custody.25 In some cases the death penalty has also been imposed, for example by hanging.26
Public Opinion
While acts of violence against Jewish citizens and their property were often rejected, their dismissal from public service was mostly welcomed. In many cases this created free jobs and opportunities for advancement and was appreciated even by opponents of National Socialism.27
Since the German population was not bothered by the discrimination of the Jewish population, but only by its violent execution, the Nuremberg Laws found wide acceptance. One reason for this was that the Jewish citizens were considered a national minority who, under the state protection of these laws, were believed to be able to follow their own cultural and ethnic life. At the same time, however, the population also expected that the segregation of the Jewish citizens would put an end to the ongoing attacks by the SA in recent months. However, whenever it came to “racial disgrace” judgments in court, the population usually reacted with compassion, so that in 1936 Goebbels finally requested the press office of the Ministry of Justice to avoid excessive publicity of “racial disgrace” judgments.28
Representation in novels
The novel "Die Sünde wider das Blut" (Sin Against the Blood), published by Artur Dinter in 1917, exercised a particularly substantial influence on the acceptance of the concept of "racial disgrace" by the Germans. Within four years, the 15th edition of the book was published, which was read by about 1.5 million people. In this novel, the blond Aryan Hermann Kämpfer married the half-Jewish woman Elisabeth, whose children, despite being of only one-quarter Jewish origin, were “fully Jewish, horrible freaks." Elisabeth had committed "mental adultery" because she had thought of her former Jewish fiancé during her pregnancy. After the wife's death at the birth of her second, also "monstrous" child, Kämpfer married an Aryan woman. Just like the first woman, however, the purely Aryan child she gave birth to was also "monstrous" and she confessed that she had once been seduced by a Jew a long time ago.
In his novel, Dinter sketches the image of “the Jews” as a danger to the Aryan race. In the case of the second wife, one sexual intercourse is enough to corrupt her ability to bear Aryan children, as all the following children would be Jewish regardless of the father. With the first wife, even the thought of a Jewish man is enough. Thus, the novel suggested that not only must intimate contact between “Jews” and Aryans be forbidden, even the very existence of “the Jews” posed a threat to the Aryan race.29
Bibliography
Laws
Erste Verordnung zum Reichsbürgergesetz. In: Hermann Auert (Ed.): Das neue großdeutsche Eherecht. Gesetzestexte und Kommentar. Berlin, Boston 1935, p. 4344.
Erste Verordnung zur Ausführung des Gesetzes zum Schutze des deutschen Blutes und der deutschen Ehre. Erste VO zum Blutschutzgesetz. In: Hermann Auert (Ed.): Das neue großdeutsche Eherecht. Gesetzestexte und Kommentar. Berlin, Boston 1935, p. 45-48.
Gesetz zum Schutze des deutschen Blutes und der deutschen Ehre.
Blutschutzgesetz. In: Hermann Auert (Ed.): Das neue großdeutsche Eherecht. Gesetzestexte und Kommentar. Berlin, Boston 1935, p. 41-42.
Secondary Literature
Bankir, David: Die öffentliche Meinung im Hitler-Staat. Die „Endlösung“ und die Deutschen. Eine Berichtigung. Berlin 1995.
Burleigh, Michael: The racial state: Germany 1933-1945. Cambridge 1991.
Essner, Cornelia: Die „Nürnberger Gesetze“ oder die Verwaltung des Rassenwahns 1933 - 1945. Paderborn 2003.
Freisleben, Erich: Grundelemente der Rassenkunde und Rassenhygiene der Weimarer Zeit. Eine Untersuchung zu zwei Standardwerken. Berlin 2003.
Friedländer, Saul: Das Dritte Reich und die Juden 1. Die Jahre der Verfolgung: 1933 - 1939. München 1998.
Gellately, Robert. Backing Hitler. Consent and Coercion in Nazi Germany. Oxford 2001.
Gellately, Robert: Die Gestapo und die deutsche Gesellschaft. Die Durchsetzung der Rassenpolitik 1933 - 1945. Paderborn [u.a.] 1993.
Przyrembel, Alexandra: „Rassenschande“. Reinheitsmythos und Vernichtungslegitimation im Nationalsozialismus. Göttingen 2003.
Schwandt, Peter: Hans F.K. Günther. Porträt, Entwicklung und Wirken des rassistisch-nordischen Denkens. Saarbrücken 2008.
Steinweis, Alan E.: Studying the Jew: ScholarlyAntisemitism in Nazi Germany. Cambridge, MA 2009.
List of figures
Figure 1: Humiliation of Christine Neemann and Julius Wolff for racial defilement (Norden, 22 July 1935): Niedersächsisches Landesarchiv DepartmentAurich http://www.arcinsys.niedersachsen.de/arcinsys/detailAction?detailid=v1247832
Figure 2: Nuremberg Laws Racial Chartfrom 1935: public domain https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nuremberg_laws_Racial_Chart.jpg
Figure 3: “Stolpersteine” (step-stones) for two polish forced laborers who were hanged in 1941 for race disgrace: Heiwil https://commons.wikimedia.Org/wiki/File:Stolperstein_Walenty_Piotrowski.jpg retrieved 15.10.2020.
Further Information
Videos
Third Reich Nuremberg Laws
Published on C-SPAN3 History
https://www.c-span.org/videoP295816-1/reich-nuremberg-laws
Racially Discriminative Laws Through History
Published on C-SPAN3 History
https://www.c-span.org/videoP289464-1/racially-disciminative-laws-history
Racial Ideology
published by Yad Vashem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JS1JQoiUcW8
Main principles of Nazi Ideology
published by Yad Vashem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o47TJM91Y-I&
Learning Materials to related concepts
Online-Course about Anti-Semitism
published by Yad Vashem:
https://www.yadvashem.org/education/online-courses/antisemitism.html
Online-Course about the Holocaust
published by Yad Vashem:
https://www.yadvashem.org/education/online-courses/the-holocaust.html
Teaching Holocaust and Antisemitism
published by Echoes and Reflections: https://echoesandreflections.org/prepare/? class=online
Further Materials
Interviews with witnesses and survivors of the Holocaust
published by the USC Shoah Foundation:
https://vha.usc.edu/about/archive
Glossary of Holocaust Terms:
https://www.thoughtco.com/holocaust-glossary-1779662
20 Erste Verordnung zum Reichsbürgergesetz. In: Hermann Auert (Ed.): Das neue großdeutsche Eherecht. Gesetzestexte und Kommentar. Berlin, Boston 1935, p. 43-44, here: § 5.
[...]
1 Gesetz zum Schutze des deutschen Blutes und der deutschen Ehre. Blutschutzgesetz. In: Hermann Auert (Ed.): Das neue großdeutsche Eherecht. Gesetzestexte und Kommentar. Berlin, Boston 1935, p. 41-42, here: § 2.
2 Erich Freisieben: Grundelemente der Rassenkunde und Rassenhygiene der Weimarer Zeit. Eine Untersuchung zu zwei Standardwerken. Berlin 2003, p. 39.
3 Robert Gellately: Backing Hitler. Consent and Coercion in Nazi Germany. Oxford 2001. p. 134
4 Erste Verordnung zurAusführung des Gesetzes zum Schutze des deutschen Blutes und der deutschen Ehre. Erste VO zum Blutschutzgesetz. In: Hermann Auert (Ed.): Das neue großdeutsche Eherecht. Gesetzestexte und Kommentar. Berlin, Boston 1935, P. 45-48, here: § 11.
5 Saul Friedländer: Das Dritte Reich und die Juden 1. Die Jahre der Verfolgung: 1933 - 1939. München 1998, p. 176.
6 Cornelia Essner: Die "Nürnberger Gesetze" oder die Verwaltung des Rassenwahns 1933 - 1945. Paderborn [u.a.], P. 21f.
7 Ebd., P. 25f.
8 Ebd., P. 27.
9 Alan E. Steinweis: Studying the Jew: Scholarly Antisemitism in Nazi Germany. Cambridge, MA 2009, P. 25.
10 Freisleben, Grundelemente der Rassenkunde und Rassenhygiene derWeimarerZeit, p. 52.
11 Ebd., P. 54-62.
12 Peter Schwandt: Hans F.K. Günther. Porträt, Entwicklung und Wirken des rassistisch-nordischen Denkenp. Saarbrücken 2008, p. 7.
13 Ebd., p. 5.
14 Alexandra Przyrembel: "Rassenschande". Reinheitsmythos und Vernichtungslegitimation im Nationalsozialismup. Göttingen, p. 31f.
15 Freisleben, Grundelemente der Rassenkunde und Rassenhygiene derWeimarerZeit, p. 69.
16 Ebd., p. 75.
17 Gesetz zum Schutze des deutschen Blutes und der deutschen Ehre.
18 Friedländer, Das Dritte Reich und die Juden 1, p. 163.
19 Ebd., p. 165.
20 Friedländer, Das Dritte Reich und die Juden 1, p. 169.
21 Erste Verordnung zum Reichsbürgergesetz, 2 II.
22 Michael Burleigh: The racial state: Germany 1933-1945. Cambridge 1991, 49, 116.
23 Robert Gellately: Die Gestapo und die deutsche Gesellschaft. Die Durchsetzung der Rassenpolitik 1933 - 1945. Paderborn [u.a.] 1993 (= Sammlung Schöningh zur Geschichte und Gegenwart), p. 185.
24 Ebd., p. 187.
25 Peter Longerich: Heinrich Himmler. A Life. Oxford 2013. p. 475
26 Gellately: Backing Hitler. p. 155
27 David Bankir: Die öffentliche Meinung im Hitler-Staat. Die "Endlösung" und die Deutschen Eine Berichtigung. Berlin 1995, p. 96.
28 Friedländer, Das Dritte Reich und die Juden 1, p. 180.
Häufig gestellte Fragen
Was ist "Rassenschande"?
"Rassenschande" (Rassenschande, auch Rassenschande) war die Bezeichnung für den verbotenen Geschlechtsverkehr zwischen Staatsangehörigen deutschen und so genannten verwandten Blutes einerseits und "Juden" andererseits im NS-Deutschland bis 1945.[1],[2] Schon vor Erlass der Nürnberger Gesetze wurden Personen, denen Rassenschande vorgeworfen wurde, öffentlich gedemütigt. Die SS hängte ihnen Plakate um den Hals, die sie der Rassenschande beschuldigten, und führte sie dann durch die Straßen.1 2 3
Wie wurde der Begriff "Rassenschande" in Nazi-Deutschland entwickelt?
Die Basis für die Entwicklung des Begriffs "Rassenschande" im NS-Deutschland war der völkische Antisemitismus, der sich seit 1871 entwickelt hatte. Die verschiedenen völkischen Bewegungen waren durch die Vorstellung geeint, dass "Deutschtum" erneuert werden müsse. Zu diesem Zweck sollten "elementare Kräfte" wiederbelebt werden, die in der "deutschen Seele" des Volkes verborgen waren.6 Laut Woltmann waren die germanischen Völker die jüngsten der Rassen, die von den mythischen und verschwundenen "Ariern" abstammen. Zu dieser Zeit war die völkische Idee jedoch noch auf religiöse Gründe beschränkt; die gewünschte Erneuerung sollte beispielsweise durch Gebete erfolgen und spiegelte sich folglich in Blasphemieprozessen wider.7
Welche Rolle spielte Hans F. K. Günther bei der Definition von Rassen?
Hans F. K. Günthers Buch Rassenkunde des jüdischen Volkes war das am häufigsten zitierte Buch, wenn es um rassistische Judenstudien im NS-Deutschland ging. Günther, der als Sprachwissenschaftler studiert hatte und keine formale Ausbildung als Anthropologe oder in einer anderen Wissenschaft absolviert hatte, veröffentlichte den Inhalt seines Buches ursprünglich als Anhang zu seinem Buch Rassenkunde des deutschen Volkes.9 "Rassenkunde des deutschen Volkes" erlebte zwischen 1922 und 1934 16 Auflagen, unter anderem wegen der Fülle von Widersprüchen, die von Anthropologen aufgedeckt wurden.10
In seinem Werk „Rassenkunde des deutschen Volkes“ definierte Günther insgesamt nur vier, später sechs verschiedene Rassen und behauptete, die Deutschen seien eine Mischung dieser Rassen. Um diese Klassifizierungen zu rechtfertigen, verwendete er eine Mischung aus anthropometrischen Messungen und persönlichen Beobachtungen. Gleichzeitig behauptete er, dass diese Rassen bis in die prähistorische Zeit zurückreichen und dass niemals neue Rassen entstehen könnten, wenn zwei Elternteile unterschiedlicher Rassen ein Kind zeugten. Stattdessen seien diese sogenannten "Mischlinge" (Kinder gemischter Elternschaft oder "Mischlinge") ein Durcheinander elterlicher Eigenschaften.11
Was waren die Nürnberger Gesetze?
Das Verbot des Geschlechtsverkehrs zwischen Staatsangehörigen deutschen oder verwandten Blutes und Juden wurde im Gesetz zum Schutz des deutschen Blutes und der deutschen Ehre vom 15.09.1935 gesetzlich festgelegt.17 Ein erster Entwurf wurde jedoch bereits zwei Jahre zuvor, im Juli 1933, vom Justizministerium vorgelegt.18 Vor der Bekanntgabe des Gesetzes auf dem Nürnberger Reichsparteitag wurden im Auftrag Hitlers insgesamt vier verschiedene Entwürfe erstellt.
Wie wurden Verstöße gegen die "Rassenschande" strafrechtlich verfolgt?
Die Ermittlungen wegen "Rassenschande" wurden im Allgemeinen von der Gestapo durchgeführt. Robert Gellatelly hat die Akten der Würzburger Gestapo analysiert und festgestellt, dass 54% der Fälle nicht durch offizielle Ermittlungen, sondern durch Anzeigen aus der Bevölkerung eingeleitet wurden. Andererseits waren in keinem einzigen Fall eigene Beobachtungen oder die von V-Leuten die Ursache.23
Wie reagierte die Öffentlichkeit auf die "Rassenschande"-Urteile?
Da die deutsche Bevölkerung sich nicht an der Diskriminierung der jüdischen Bevölkerung, sondern nur an deren gewaltsamer Vollstreckung störte, fanden die Nürnberger Gesetze breite Akzeptanz. Ein Grund dafür war, dass die jüdischen Bürger als nationale Minderheit galten, die unter dem staatlichen Schutz dieser Gesetze ihr eigenes kulturelles und ethnisches Leben führen könnten. Gleichzeitig erwartete die Bevölkerung aber auch, dass die Segregation der jüdischen Bürger den seit Monaten andauernden Angriffen der SA ein Ende setzen würde. Wann immer es jedoch zu "Rassenschande"-Urteilen vor Gericht kam, reagierte die Bevölkerung in der Regel mit Mitgefühl, so dass Goebbels 1936 schließlich das Presseamt des Justizministeriums aufforderte, eine übermäßige Publizität von "Rassenschande"-Urteilen zu vermeiden.28
Wie wurde die "Rassenschande" in Romanen dargestellt?
Der 1917 von Artur Dinter veröffentlichte Roman "Die Sünde wider das Blut" übte einen besonders erheblichen Einfluss auf die Akzeptanz des Begriffs "Rassenschande" durch die Deutschen aus. Innerhalb von vier Jahren erschien die 15. Auflage des Buches, die von etwa 1,5 Millionen Menschen gelesen wurde. In diesem Roman heiratet der blonde Arier Hermann Kämpfer die halbjüdische Frau Elisabeth, deren Kinder, obwohl sie nur zu einem Viertel jüdischer Herkunft sind, "volljüdische, schreckliche Freaks" sind. Elisabeth hatte "geistigen Ehebruch" begangen, weil sie während ihrer Schwangerschaft an ihren ehemaligen jüdischen Verlobten gedacht hatte. Nach dem Tod der Frau bei der Geburt ihres zweiten, ebenfalls "monströsen" Kindes heiratete Kämpfer eine arische Frau. Ebenso wie das erste Kind war jedoch auch das rein arische Kind, das sie zur Welt brachte, "monströs", und sie gestand, dass sie vor langer Zeit einmal von einem Juden verführt worden war.
Welche weiterführenden Informationen und Ressourcen gibt es zum Thema?
Es gibt zahlreiche Videos, Online-Kurse, und Archive mit Interviews von Zeugen und Überlebenden des Holocaust, die weiterführende Informationen bieten.
- Quote paper
- Astrid Schühle (Author), 2020, The Concept of "Rassenschande". Background, Legal Framework, Public Opinion, and Representation in Novels, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1365420
