Nuremberg Race Laws Research Paper

Ethan Blandino(USSR)
Mira Costa High School
October 10, 1945
Background
Beginning in 1935, the Nuremberg Race Laws would be the major first step in a long journey marked by constant persecution of Jews and other non-German nationals within the German borders. It initially set about to denationalize any Jewish person, as identified with at least three Jewish grandparents, and separated the religion from the ethnicity, thus targeting even non-practicing German individuals. Marriage with a Jewish individual is outlawed and by November 14, 1935, this decree was extended to anyone not of pure German descent, namely Roma (Gypsies), blacks, or their offspring(USHMM). On December 9, 1936, the Supreme Court in Germany even recommended a wider and much
more broad interpretation of the law so that the “nearly insurmountable difficulties for the courts in obtaining evidence" could be avoided by including any sexual act or attempt at marriage(Supreme Court Decision on the Race Laws). This adoption would mark the transition to the policy of a systematic and complete exclusion of any non German in both the public and private sector, effectively eliminating all natural rights and any opportunities to influence public opinion on the matter.
The legal basis for the despotism that was created by the Nazi regime within Germany arose from the Enabling Act which made the formation of rival political parties illegal, robbing not just the Jewish people of an avenue to resist the consolidation of power within the Nazi party. Based on the ideas of Lebensraum, these laws would be justified by providing “true Germans” with the whole of the country for themselves. In 1938 geschlossener Arbeitseinsatz, meaning closed labor, was instated and in essence separated the German Jews from the rest of the work force, creating the conditions necessary for the widespread creation of concentration camps and the total exploitation of German Jewish labor necessary to fuel the war effort and production of armaments and war materials. Later taken over by the Reichsbank, The Decree for the Reporting of Jewish Owned Property was enacted in 1938 to categorically review the private property of German Jews that amounted to any value to the German government, allowing for later seizure of these goods from the German Jews to support the growing costs of the war
effort. There were a number of international treaties and agreements signed by Germany under Hitler that were broken as the political climate moved closer and closer towards war.
Initially Hitler uses the restrictions placed under the Treaty of Versailles as a litmus test for European aggression towards Germany, repeatedly and deliberately breaking them to gauge any negative response. Occupying the Rhineland, increasing the size of the standing army, and interest in retaking the Sudetenland all became examples of the exploitation of a policy of appeasement within Western European powers opposed to the idea of another World War. As a result of this appeasement policy the Munich Agreement was signed, providing Germany with the Sudetenland officially but limiting further expansion. This too was broken by Hitler and Nazi Germany as he authorizes the reoccupation of the entirety of Czechoslovakia and invades Poland. With this military act, Hitler forces the hand of Britain and France who declare war on the country, thus ending the
peace.

II. Future International Precedent Establishing a precedent for future trials of violations of international treaties and norms, the Nuremberg Trials have had a wide range of political, judicial, and humanitarian effects in the ever changing world. The United Nations Genocide Convention, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Geneva Convention on the Laws and Customs of War are all the direct result of the rulings and practices established by the trials themselves. These documents have been pillars of international efforts throughout the years and have helped to streamline prosecution of international criminals and aid in the distribution of humanitarian aid to some of the worst political climates in the world. It also created the Nuremberg Principles, a set of guidelines detailing “what qualifies as a war crime, giving structure to human rights protection, and placing responsibility of prosecuting war crimes on international community”(The Nuremberg Trials). In its seven defining articles, it details that anyone can be tried in violation of an international law regardless of national law that contradicts it, that heads of state can be tried for international crimes, that lower officials are still guilty of international crimes despite orders to commit it if a moral choice on their part was available, and that anyone tried of an international crime has the right to a fair trial.

III. Policy The idea of what the justice system of the USSR would encompass and its focus in the laws that it set forth varied depending on who was the head of state at that time. The overarching idea that unified the justice system was that the law was below the Communist government and it served to uphold the strength of the government itself. The Supreme Soviet of the USSR was the legislative body of the government, setting forth any laws that had ended up on the floor for discussion. In reality though, the top officials within the Communist Party debated and decided on the worth of a law and then sent it to the Supreme Soviet for it to be passed automatically. Court juries were abolished for the majority of Soviet rule and instead were replaced by one judge, who was appointed by officials within the government, and two civilians who were almost always compelled to agree with the sentencing of the judge.