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he Nuremberg laws were announced
on September 15, 1935 in Nuremberg, Germany, at the annual Nazi
Party Conference, at which Adolf Hitler also had the German
Reichstag (parliament) pass a law making the Swastika the
national flag of Nazi Germany
The first law, The Law for the Protection of the Nation,
included the following prohibitions and enforcement measures:
• Marriages between Jews and German citizens were forbidden
• Extramarital sexual intercourse between Jews and German
citizens were forbidden
• Jews were not permitted to employ German women as domestic
workers
• The law also included provisions for German officials to
issue further legal and administrative regulations to enforce
and supplement the law
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The second law, The Reich
Citizenship Law included these provisions:
Determining that only Germans or „kindred blood“ are
considered Reich citizens and that only these enjoy all rights
The Nuremberg laws provided the basis for further legislation.
Though the laws were very brief and made at the last minute,
they laid the ideological foundation of the Nazis for the first
time as a law. Though the two Nuremberg laws did not actually
state who is considered a Jew, already the First Supplementary
Decree from November included provisions for this. Many similar
supplements followed and regulations followed.
The Slovak Jewish Codex was issued by the Slovak government on
September 9, 1941 – 6 years after the Nuremberg Laws. It was
the first major law of its kind in Slovakia and found
inspiration in the many repressions that Nazis in Germany had
been carrying out for years before. Nevertheless, it was one of
the most extensive and most thought-out set of anti-Jewish
regulations in the world. Even more so than in Germany or Italy.
The Jewish Codex consisted of 270 articles comprising 60 pages
of anti-Jewish provisions. It included:
The definition of a Jew or Jewish organization, as well as the
system of monitoring Jews (yellow stars)
Marriage and sexual intercourse between Jews and non-Jews,
voting or working in certain state jobs or as doctors or lawyers
was all prohibited, there were restrictions on education
Jews had to work only in jobs determined by the government
Limits on several other freedoms like freedom of privacy
(house-searches anytime without a warrant), freedom of press
(only one Jewish organization was allowed to publish – this
was also regulated by the government).
Products of their work could not be used - no Jewish art could
be exhibited (even under a different name), no Jewish
intellectual property could be used (besides scientific
achievements)
Even minor things were forbidden - Jews weren’t allowed to
fish, drive a car, ride a bicycle or own binoculars.
The majority of the articles addressed the Aryanization process
– nationalization and redistribution of Jewish property to
non-Jews ( which benefited many members and friends of the
ruling party in Slovakia)
There was also an article which enabled the President of the
Slovak Republic to grant exemptions from the Codex. The majority
of those who applied wrote a letter to the president – did not
receive it.
Each of the restrictions of the Nuremberg Laws (especially the
first law) is also included in the Slovak Jewish Codex.
Naturally, hundreds of other Nazi regulations served as
inspiration for possibly the most horrifying document passed in
Slovak history, the second being the law starting the
deportations of 1942, which was passed not only by certain
government officials but by the entire Slovak parliament (It is
also interesting to mention that the deportations themselves
started before the law was passed).
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