The Reich Citizenship Law In Nazi Germany

In September 15, 1935 Nazi Germany’s Reichstag enacted the Reich Citizenship Law. This law was not the beginning, but one of many of the Nazi government’s attempts to create a uniform sense of community in Germany. Prior to 1933, Germany’s government was ruled by the Weimar republic, which took over after WW1. Citizens of Germany were upset with the economic and political problems that plagued the country following the Treaty of Versailles, and were desperate for a charismatic leader who offered change and promised to fix these plaguing issues. Their leader’s name was Adolf Hitler and by the means of consolidating power, Hitler was able to rebuild Germany, and instill in its citizens a unified sense of pride of their country. To achieve absolute power, Hitler passed certain laws that defined what a citizen was, and what was required of them. These laws created would in effect destroy the rights of certain people, and in turn allow for

Racial inferiority ideas at the time drove this law to become a benchmark for defining German Aryans as the sole benefactors of German government citizenship. The Reich Citizenship law made it necessary to further protect those deemed Aryans or citizens of Germany and following the passage of the Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor, which banned sexual intercourse and marriage between Jews and Germans. According to the statute of this law, intercourse between Jews and citizens of German or kindred blood is forbidden. This law was enacted to keep true Aryan Germans pure, and not to defile their genetics with the believed “inferior” race of the Jews. By defining what a citizen was Hitler was able to control who was protected under the new government, and whose rights were deemed unjustifiable and could be persecuted at