"Non-Germans" Under the Third Reich (144 page)

13.
Bracher, Sauer, and Schulz,
Die nationalsozialistische Machtergreifung
(1962), 519.

14.
RGBl.
I 175. The validity of the law was originally limited to September 30, 1933, but the limit was extended several times: acts of March 22, 1934 (
RGBl.
I 203), and September 26, 1934 (
RGBl.
I 845). The Professional Civil Service Code was accompanied by a total of seven implementing orders (Sartorius,
Verfassungs- und Verwaltungsrecht
[1944], annex II, 7, 5 n. 1). For details of the law, see Bracher, Sauer, and Schulz,
Die nationalsozialistische Machtergreifung
(1962), 498 ff.

15.
Bracher, Sauer, and Schulz,
Die nationalsozialistische Machtergreifung
(1962), 497, speak rather loosely of “parallels.”

16.
For a detailed history of its development, see Adam,
Judenpolitik im Dritten Reich
, 51 ff.; and Mommsen,
Beamtentum im Dritten Reich
(1966), 39 ff., 151 ff.

17.
A compilation of all the relevant Civil Service laws, orders, and decrees may be found in Brandt,
Die politische Treuepflicht
(1976), 110 ff.

18.
First Implementing Order of April 11, 1933 (
RGBl.
I 195). All officials were to declare their affiliation with political parties when called upon to do so, including affiliation with the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold, the Association of Republican Judges, and the League for Human Rights.

19.
With regard to the term
aptitude
(
Eignung
), see no. 1 of the First Implementing Order to the BBG (Professional Civil Service Code) and BBG, sec. 2a, in pursuance of the supplementary law of July 29, 1933 (
RGBl.
I 518), according to which all officials who were members of the Communist Party or “Communist support or front organizations” were not “apt” under the terms of the law.

20.
According to no. 2 of the Implementing Order (to sec. 3 of the Professional Civil Service Code) of April 11, 1933 (
RGBl.
I 195), the term
non-Aryan
was defined as follows: “(1) A person is non-Aryan if he is descended from non-Aryan, especially Jewish, parents or grandparents. It is sufficient for one parent or one grandparent to be non-Aryan. This may be presumed to be the case in particular when a parent or grandparent has belonged to the Jewish religion. (2)…. (3) If Aryan descent is doubtful, a report is to be obtained from an expert in race research designated by the Reich minister of the interior.” Identical in wording with par. 1 is point 1, par. 1 of the Directives of the Reich minister of the interior of August 8, 1933 (
RGBl.
I 575), relating to sec. 1a, par. 3, of the Reich Civil Service Code in its version of June 30, 1933 (
RGBl.
I 433). With respect to the term
non-Aryan
(
nichtarisch
), see also Bracher, Sauer, and Schulz,
Die nationalsozialistische Machtergreifung
(1962), 503. The term
non-Aryan
, which was broader in meaning than the term
Jewish
(Jewish descent required two Jewish grandparents), was rendered inoperative by sec. 5 of the First Decree to the Reich Citizenship Law of November 14, 1935 (
RGBl.
I 1333).

21.
Frick, “Wiedergeburt des deutschen Beamten” (1934).

22.
Seel, in H. Frank, ed.,
Deutsches Verwaltungsrecht
(1937), 151, 159.

23.
A note in the files of April 27, 1933, by Reich Minister of the Interior W. Frick on this discussion, quoted in Mommsen,
Beamtentum im Dritten Reich
, 159 f.

24.
The Professional Civil Service Code was amended or extended several times (cf. laws of June 23, July 20, September 22, 1933 [
RGBl.
I 389, 518, 655]; laws of March 22, July 11, and September 26, 1934 [
RGBl.
I 203, 604, 845]); in accordance with its sec. 18, it was repealed after the time limits set by the law itself (sec. 7), or at the latest when the new German Civil Service Code (1937) came into force on January 26 (
RGBl.
39 I 186) (cf. sec. 184, par. 2, German Civil Service Code).

25.
A note in the files by Reich Minister of the Interior W. Frick of April 27, 1933, quoted in Mommsen,
Beamtentum im Dritten Reich
, 159 f.

26.
Cf. administrative instructions of April 1, 1935, from Reich Ministry of Justice,
DJ
(1935): 546, no. 4c, sec. 2.

27.
Mommsen,
Beamtentum im Dritten Reich
, 54 ff., with further references.

28.
See, for example, the letter of April 5, 1935, from the Reich minister of justice to the
Kammergericht
presiding judge, Berlin (BA R 22/10953), where it is requested that Prof. Fritz Schulz no longer be employed for state law examinations, his examination authority having been withdrawn by the Reich minister for science on account of his non-Aryan descent. The authority to conduct examinations was also rescinded in the case of examiners in political disfavor, such as members of freemason lodges (cf. letter of February 24, 1937, from the Reich Ministry of Justice to the presiding judge of the Prussian Supreme Court, Berlin, regarding dismissal of
Kammergerichtsrat
Dr. Hartung [ibid.]). See also the letter of March 1, 1937, from the Reich Ministry of Justice (Freisler) to the presiding judge of the
Kammergericht
, Berlin, in which Freisler refuses the request by the presiding judge to use former assistant judge of the
Kammergericht
Weber (first name not given) as examiner once again, on the grounds of “a reduction in the number of examinations” (ibid.). Weber had no longer been used as examiner after failing three SA members in the first law examination; a further attempt to be reinstated in 1938 was unsuccessful (exchange of correspondence [ibid.]) Carl Schmitt proposed Werner Weber,
Oberregierungsrat
in the Prussian Ministry of Culture and professor at the Berlin Business School, a highly qualified Party member who had been with the SA since 1933, as successor to Weber (letter to Freisler of January 10, 1936 [ibid.]). Freisler also rejected this proposal on grounds of “a reduction in the number of examinations” (letter to C. Schmitt of March 1, 1937 [ibid.]). Whether there really was a reduction in the number of examinations appears doubtful. The application by Prof. Siebert (Berlin) to the post of examiner on account of an increase in the number of examinations is also worthy of note (letter of November 30, 1938, from the president of the Legal Examination Office, Palandt, to the Reich Ministry of Justice regarding the appointment of Prof. Siebert and of December 1938 regarding that of Prof. Koschaker [ibid.]).

29.
Dismissals were prompt in the municipal administrations; at least eighty-seven
kreisfreie
towns (towns constituting a
Kreis
of their own) were affected. At the beginning of May 1933, seventy Oberbürgermeister were relieved of their duties; twelve of these towns (including Cologne, Düsseldorf, Magdeburg, Darmstadt, and Würzburg) lost their entire governing authority. By the summer of 1933, only four of the Oberbürgermeister elected before January 30 were still in office (Bracher, Sauer, and Schulz,
Die nationalsozialistische Machtergreifung
[1962], 446 f., including further references and numerous examples). For full information on the usurping of local positions of power by way of numerous unlawful actions against leading municipal officers on the part of the NSDAP (suspensions, dismissals, arrest, murder, suicide), which far exceeded those against members of the department of justice, see Matzerath,
Nationalsozialismus und kommunale Selbstverwaltung
(1970), 61 ff., and for personnel changes, 74 ff.; and Bracher, Sauer, and Schulz,
Die nationalsozialistische Machtergreifung
(1962), 447 ff.

30.
Official report of December 4, 1950, from State Superior Court presiding judge Hamm to the North Rhine–Westphalia minister of justice (quoted in Weinkauff and Wagner,
Die deutsche Justiz
[1968], 102).

31.
According to Mommsen,
Beamtentum im Dritten Reich
, 55, who bases his information on the Hamburg archives (see note 58 below, which can be taken as an example of the Reich’s policy in general). If the cases based on sec. 4 (54) are added to those of sec. 6 (286), which may be regarded as a variant of removal from office for political reasons, and given a total number of statutory posts of 2,666, close to 12.75% cases of removal from office for political reasons results. Three officials were dismissed on the grounds of sec. 2, and 10 on the basis of the Aryan Paragraphs in the Professional Civil Service Code, sec. 3; further, two Jewish functionaries were superannuated on the grounds of sec. 4 of the First Decree to the Reich Citizenship Law. For the justice department, see Johe,
Die gleichgeschaltete Justiz
(1967), 68 ff.; and notes 55 and 64 below.

32.
Figures from Prussian Ministry of Justice statistics, quoted in Schorn,
Der Richter im Dritten Reich
(1959), 730 f.; see note 64 below for further details.

33.
RGBl.
I 195; membership in the Communist Party or a Communist organization as a reason for dismissal was introduced into the Professional Civil Service Code by the supplementary law of July 20, 1933 (
RGBl.
I 518), as sec. 2a.

34.
Implementing Order to Professional Civil Service Code dated May 6, 1933 (
RGBl.
I 245).

35.
See, for example, the official report of December 4, 1950, from State Superior Court presiding judge Hamm to the minister of justice of North Rhine–Westphalia, according to which thirteen non-Jewish judges were disciplined (promotion freeze, forced retirement, dismissal, transfer) on political grounds, including membership in one of the Weimar parties (quoted in Weinkauff and Wagner,
Die deutsche Justiz
).

36.
See the letter of April 25, 1938, from the Reich minister of the interior to the deputy Führer, containing proposals for the promotion of various officials from the position of
Oberregierungssrat
(ORR) to that of
Ministerialrat
. In paragraphs a–c the Reich Ministry of the Interior pointed to the excellent technical work of ORR Ritter von Lex, stating that it would not be appropriate to reproach him now with remarks made against the NSDAP during an election campaign years earlier. ORR Krug von Nidda, for his part, had never been politically
active
and had “proved himself highly capable,” and ORR Globke was among the “most competent and diligent officials [of the] ministry,” and had not stood out politically. In spite of their former political affiliations, therefore, these officials could exceptionally be promoted “by the Führer’s will” (BA R 18); Diehl-Thiele,
Partei und Staat im Dritten Reich
(1969), 55 ff., similarly reports that members of the Center Party, the German People’s Party, or the Bavarian People’s Party were generally suspect. Mommsen,
Beamtentum im Dritten Reich
, 60, gives evidence that membership in the SPD and the KPD were put on an equal footing when the political reliability of officials was evaluated, at least in the realm of the Reich financial administration. Subsequently, however, members of the Center Party were also removed from office; the only distinction that can be made is whether dismissal or retirement was imposed.

37.
Circular of July 14, 1933, issued in the name of all Reich ministers (
RMinbliV
[1993]: 887).

38.
Cf. Mommsen,
Beamtentum im Dritten Reich
, 59, who stresses that the cleansing of the Civil Service apparatus “had little impact on its internal cohesion, apart from the dismissal of Communists and Jews.”

39.
Nos. 1 and 2 of the First Implementing Order to the Professional Civil Service Code of April 11, 1933 (
RGBl.
I 195); either Aryan descent or qualification for service on the front had to be proved in accordance with the emergency regulations, sec. 3, par. 2, of the law. Only officials who had been in service since August 1, 1914, were exempt from this requirement.

40.
Third Implementing Order to the Professional Civil Service Code of May 6, 1933 (
RGBl.
I 245); application of the rules was strict in the Ministries of the Economy, Food, and Justice; more lenient (no checking of information, for example) in Transport, Labor, and Finance, and initially also in the Ministry of the Interior (Bracher, Sauer, and Schulz,
Die nationalsozialistische Machtergreifung
[1962], 500).

41.
Cf. RuPrMdI circular of January 26, 1935, regarding the “ancestry certificate,”
MinbliV
no. 6; the decree was modified by order from the commissioner-general for administration of the Reich (Frick) of August 1, 1940 (
RGBl.
I 1063 f.). With regard to the judiciary, see the relevant provisions in the administrative instructions issued by the Reich minister of justice of April 1, 1935 (
DJ
[1935]: 546, no. 4c, par. 2), and of July 6, 1936 (quoted in the decree of the Reich minister of justice to the State Superior Court presiding judge of Breslau [Wrocław] of September 16, 1936 [BA R 22/4430]). The obligation to prove Aryan descent was extended to officials of the Reich Ministry of Justice and their wives by the circulars of April 15, 1936, and December 7, 1936 (BA R 22/4433).

42.
Cf.
Ministerialdirigent
H. Seel, “Die Gestaltung des deutschen Beamtenrechtes seit dem 30. Januar 1933” (1937), 164.

43.
Erwin Schütze,
Ministerialdirektor
(a high-ranking official post) in the Reich Ministry of the Interior, “Beamtenpolitik im Dritten Reich,” in Pfundtner,
Dr. Wilhelm Frick und sein Ministerium
(1937), 59 ff., quoted in Mommsen,
Beamtentum im Dritten Reich
, 57 n. 68.