Jews in Germany May Not Register As ‘deists’

Jews in Germany who have left the Jewish religious community without having adopted the Protestant or Catholic faith and who do not consider themselves atheists must not register as deists (Gottglaeubige), according to a decision of the Reich Executive of the National Socialist Party published in the National Socialist Party Correspondence.

The term deists (Gottglaeubige), the announcement states, denotes exclusively a religious attitude particular to people of the German and kindred races. Any extension of this limit would be equivalent to an internationalization of the belief and would constitute an abuse which must be rejected by the Party Executive.

Jews unwilling to belong any longer to a specific religious community and at the same time declining to consider themselves atheists may give expression to this by stating that they are “not members of a religious community,” the announcement concludes.