The contents of a sensational special Jewish law, prepared by Helmut Nicolai, president of the government of Magdeburg, were published today. The proposed law places Jews, Gypsies, Poles, Mongols and Negroes in the same category. Herr Nicolai was invited by the Nazi government some time ago to work out new citizenship regulations for the entire Reich.
Under the proposed law the entire German population will be divided into four classes. They are:
1.Full-blooded Aryan German citizens.
2.Foreigners residing in Germany.
3.Germans residing abroad.
4.German citizens of alien blood, particularly Jews, Poles and Gypsies possessing German citizenship.
MAY KEEP CITIZENSHIP
Nicolai’s proposals, which are considered the principal Nazi government project as far as the Jews are concerned, recommend that the German Jews be permitted to retain their citizenship and be granted the full protection of the Nazi government, but not all the rights enjoyed by the “full-blooded Aryans.” Only Jews who fought at the front in the World War or those who rendered Germany “other special valuable services” are to be given the same rights as those bestowed upon Aryans, Nicolai recommends.
Nicolai also recommends minority rights for the German Jews, similar to minority rights accorded in other countries, a measure he suggests for government consideration.
The project makes it clear that any new law must prohibit the employment of Jews in public offices and further recommends the following measures for the “protection of the German nation from Jews, Mongols, Negroes and Gypsies.”
1.A special law prohibiting intermarriage with the above-mentioned races, pointing out that such a law has not been promulgated as yet.
2.An ordinace prohibiting sexual relations with members of the races mentioned.
3.Immigration restrictions for “alien races.”
4.The complete expulsion of “fremdrassige” (alien races) from certain professions and the restriction of their numbers in other professions.
ESTIMATES 610,000 GERMAN JEWS
Nicolai estimates that there are 610,000 Jews in Germany today and 2,000,000 Germans descended from Jews.
In the conclusion of his proposals Nicolai speaks of anti-Semitism as a movement “which was in use during the Middle Ages as a cultural, religious and economic opposition to Jewish interests.”
Nicolai’s proposals, which appear to have more of an official standing than any of the others proposed by various Nazi theoreticians, if adopted, will destroy the freedom and equality enjoyed by the German Jews for years. Ever since the advent of the Hitler government German Jewry has been awaiting the new law. The Nazis made no secret that they intended to place the Jews in a special inferior classification. This was a cardinal point in the Nazi program and the only one they have even attempted to carry out. Any number of plans have been advanced by various Nazi leaders ranging from the expulsion of the Jews from Germany to plans for reducing them to a sort of “untouchable caste”. In any event, the proposed law will only legalize measures which have been employed against the Jews in Germany during the year the Nazis have held power. There is nothing particularly new in the proposals of Nicolai, most of the measures he advocates being already in pracitce in all the German states.
However, if adopted, the law will clarify the legal status of the German Jews and remove the dread uncertainty that has been hanging over them since last January. Numerous conferences on the proposed Jewish law have been held and German Jewish leaders and organizations have been consulted by the Nazis on the law. But only recently after an agreement on a proposed law had been reached with Jewish leaders they were suddenly told by Nazi authorities not to expect the promulgation of such a law in the near future.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
