New citizenship regulations for Jews will be proclaimed by the Ministry of the Interior, headed by Dr. Wilhelm Frick, before Easter, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency was reliably informed today. The year 1812 is to be established as the date upon which the granting of full citizenship rights for any Jew depends, it was learned. Descendants of Jews who were native German residents in 1812, are to be granted full citizenship with voting rights; others will be considered inferior citizens with no political rights.
The year 1812 was selected, it was ascertained, because at that time the German Jews received their family names. The number of German Jews who under this ruling will remain full citizens is difficult to estimate. However, it is certain that less than half of the 600,000 Jews in Germany will be able to prove their descent as far back as 1812 without leaving some loophole for doubt.
SOUGHT TO CONSULT JEWISH BODY
But every law proposed so far has been shelved by the Nazi government, and the Jews remain in a state of uncertainty.
A law such as the one proposed here might be a serious menace to the German Jews in view of their experience with other Nazi legislation. Even in cases where the Nazis have exempted Jews from the working of the “Aryan clause.” the laws have been interpreted in such a way as to shut out the largest number of Jews possible.
When Jewish war veterans in the various professions were exempted by the Nazis from dismissal under the “Aryan clause” they found to their dismay that the authorities required such stringent proof of their service, in many cases impossible to furnish so long after the war, that many were shut out from the exemption privilege.
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.
