The ''Frontkämpferprivileg'' (''front-line fighter's privilege'') was an exemption granted by the government of
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
between 1933 and 1935 to German Jews who had fought for Germany during the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
but faced dismissal from official posts under
anti-Jewish legislation in prewar Nazi Germany
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
.
The "
Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service
The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Hitler Service (german: Gesetz zur Wiederherstellung des Berufsbeamtentums, shortened to ''Berufsbeamtengesetz''), also known as Civil Service Law, Civil Service Restoration Act, and Law to Re-es ...
" of 7 April 1933 aimed to force all "non-Aryans" to retire from the legal profession and civil service, and other anti-Jewish laws passed in 1933 sought to drive Jews out of other areas of public life. These moves prompted a protest from Captain Leo Löwenstein, the president of the Reich Association of Jewish Frontline Soldiers, who wrote to the Nazi leader
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
to complain. He pointed out that of Germany's half-million Jewish population, 96,000 had served in the war and 12,000 had perished. He wrote:
It also met with the disapproval of
Reich President
''Reich'' (; ) is a German noun whose meaning is analogous to the meaning of the English word " realm"; this is not to be confused with the German adjective "reich" which means "rich". The terms ' (literally the "realm of an emperor") and ' (li ...
Paul von Hindenburg
Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg (; abbreviated ; 2 October 1847 – 2 August 1934) was a German field marshal and statesman who led the Imperial German Army during World War I and later became President of Germany fro ...
, a former First World War Field Marshal, who wrote in a letter to Hitler:
Hindenburg insisted that Jewish former front-line soldiers and their sons must be allowed to continue in their jobs. The law of 7 April 1933 thus included a clause that exempted such people, creating the so-called ''Frontkämpferprivileg'' (front-line fighter privilege). To the surprise of the Nazis, nearly 50 per cent of the Jewish officials who faced dismissal were able to prove that they fell into this category.
[Longerich, Peter (1998). ''Politik der Vernichtung. Eine Gesamtdarstellung der nationalsozialistischen Judenverfolgung'', pp. 42-43. Piper, Munich. ] However, the privilege was abolished after Hindenburg's death when the
Nuremberg Laws
The Nuremberg Laws (german: link=no, Nürnberger Gesetze, ) were antisemitic and racist laws that were enacted in Nazi Germany on 15 September 1935, at a special meeting of the Reichstag convened during the annual Nuremberg Rally of th ...
of 1935 instituted systematic discrimination against Jews and deprived them of citizenship.
References
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1933 in Germany
1933 in law
Civil services
The Holocaust in Germany
Holocaust racial laws
Law in Nazi Germany
Jewish German history
Repealed German legislation