Ahnenpass

The ''Ahnenpaß'' (literally, "ancestor pass") documented the Aryan lineage of people "of German blood" in Nazi Germany. It was one of the forms of the Aryan certificate (''Ariernachweis'') and issued by the "Reich Association of Marriage Registrars in Germany" (''Reichsverband der Standesbeamten in Deutschland e. V.'').

The term Aryan in this context was used in a sense widely accepted in the "race science" of the time, which considered that there was a Caucasian race which was sub-divided into Semitic, Hamitic, and Aryan (Japhetic) subraces, the latter corresponding to the Indo-European language family. The Nazi ideology limited the category Aryan to certain subgroups, while excluding Slavs as non-Aryan. The actual primary objective was to create extensive profiling based on racial data.

The investigation for lineage was not obligatory, as it was a major undertaking to research the original documents for birth and marriage. Many Nazi followers had already begun to research their lineage even before law required it (soon after the NSDAP took power on 30 January 1933).

One important law, issued on 7 April 1933 (after the Nazi assumption of power) was called the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, and it required all public servants to be of Aryan descent. The law, however, did not define the term "Aryan" and a subsequent regulation was issued on 11 April as the first legal attempt by the Nazi government to define who was, and who was not, a Jew. Germans aspiring for the document had to prove they were of Aryan descent. The ''Ahnenpass'' could be issued to citizens of other countries if they were of "German blood", and the document stated that Aryans could be located "wherever they might live in the world" The ''Reichsgesetzblatt'' (''Reich Legislative Gazette'') referred to people of "German or racially related blood" rather than just "of German blood".

The many Poles, Czechs and others of German descent in other countries were known as Volksdeutsche, and Aryan. Poles and Czechs not of German descent, and other Slavs, were not considered Aryans by Nazi Germany.

A definition of "Aryan" that included some non-European ethnic groups was deemed unacceptable; therefore, the Expert Advisor for Population and Racial Policy redefined "Aryan" as someone who is "tribally" related to "German blood".

The implementing decree followed the pre-Nazi trend found in the Aryan Paragraph and read in pertinent part that:

The applicable fields were later enlarged under different laws to include lawyers, teachers, and medical doctors, and required a proven Aryan lineage even to attend high school or get married. Usually, the lineage was investigated two generations back. The ''Ahnenpass'' cost 0.6 Reichsmarks.

Holding an ''Ahnenpass'' was not on record; the document was shown whenever proof of Aryan descent was required. The Aryan proof had to be provided, for example, in the context of the South Tyrol Option Agreement, for which a special office was set up in Bolzano, a so-called ''Sippenkanzlei'', under the direction of Franz Sylvester Weber.

Due to the need for Ahnenpasses, genealogical research flourished in Nazi Germany. Opposition clergy helped many racially persecuted individuals by providing them with false certificates of ancestry necessary for survival.

See also

*Nuremberg laws
* German Blood Certificate
*Nazi eugenics
*Racial policy of Nazi Germany
*Rassenschande
* Mischling Test
* Limpieza de sangre
*Volksdeutsche

References

Notes

Bibliography
*

Further reading
*''Der Ahnenpaß des Ehepaares''. Verlag für Standesamtswesen, Berlin 1939.
*Eric Ehrenreich: ''The Nazi Ancestral Proof: Genealogy, Racial Science, and the Final Solution''. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2007.
*Cornelia Essner: ''Die „Nürnberger Gesetze“ oder Die Verwaltung des Rassenwahns 1933–1945.'' Schöningh, Paderborn 2002, .
*Nicholas John Fogg, 'German genealogy during the Nazi period (1933–1945)', in ''Genealogists' Magazine'', vol. 30, no. 9 (London, March 2012), pp. 347–362.
*Christian Zentner, Friedemann Bedürftig (1991). '' The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich'', p. 23. Macmillan, New York.
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Aryanism
Nazi eugenics
Identity documents of Nazi Germany