Jewish Policies 1933-37 - The Civil Service Laws in 1933

The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service

• April 1933

• This required Jews to by dismissed from Civil Service

Problems with the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service law

• Was not straightforward, as there was no objective, scientific definition of who was racially Jewish according to physical characteristics or blood group

• However under this 1933 law, people were considered ‘non-Aryan’ if either of their parents or either of their grandparents were Jewish

How President Hindenburg hindered the 1933 Civil Service Laws

• He insisted on exempting from this law German Jews who had served in the First World War and for those whose fathers had been killed in the war

• Hitler reluctantly accepted this as a ‘political necessity’ and the exemption was kept in place until after Hindenburg’s death in 1934

• These exemptions lessened the Law’s impact as it applied to up to 2 thirds of Jews in Civil Service

Impact of the 1933 Civil Service Law

• The Civil Service Law had a devastating economic and psychological impact on middle-class Jews in Germany

• This law contributed to the increasing levels of Jewish emigration

• In 1933, 37,000 Jews left Germany