A flexible rule for treating children born of mixed marriages as Germans in some spheres of activities and as “non-Aryans” in others has been set up by the Higher Court of Dresden.
The court set aside a verdict brought on appeal from the District Court, which had awarded the child of a mixed marriage to the divorced Jewish mother on the ground that the child belonged racially to a Jewish environment.
The Higher Court ruled that custody of the child could not be given to the mother summarily, but only after a careful examination to determine whether or not it should be allowed to become Jew.
The legal regulation of the status of children of mixed marriages, the appeals court decided, should be based on the fact that they could not be regarded as equal either to Jews or to Germans. Since German Law aimed to eliminate mixed racial strains as soon as possible, children of mixed marriages were to be treated as Germans in certain spheres of life and as “non-Aryans” in others.
Thus, the court continued, according to State Secretary Stuckart, such children should be treated as Germans as far as military service, labor service and admissions to schools and universities were concerned.
The ruling stated that the child of a mixed marriage could be absorbed entirely into the German community if his services were considered valuable. How far that was to be allowed, experience alone could show. There could be no question of regarding a “mischling” as belonging racially to the Jewish parent, the court concluded.
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.
