Genealogical table for evidence of Aryan ancestry

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 ...

, the Aryan certificate/passport (german: Ariernachweis) was a document which certified that a person was a member of the presumed

Aryan race The Aryan race is an obsolete historical race concept that emerged in the late-19th century to describe people of Proto-Indo-European heritage as a racial grouping. The terminology derives from the historical usage of Aryan, used by modern ...

. Beginning in April 1933, it was required from all employees and officials in the

public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, inf ...

, including

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

, according to 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 ...

. It was also a primary requirement to become a Reich citizen for those who were of German or related blood (

Aryan Aryan or Arya (, Indo-Iranian *''arya'') is a term originally used as an ethnocultural self-designation by Indo-Iranians in ancient times, in contrast to the nearby outsiders known as 'non-Aryan' (*''an-arya''). In Ancient India, the term ...

) and wanted to become Reich citizens after 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 ...

were passed in 1935. A "Swede or an Englishman, a Frenchman or Czech, a Pole or Italian" was considered to be related, that is, "Aryan". There were two main types: *''Kleiner Ariernachweis'' (Lesser Aryan certificate) was one of: **Seven birth or baptism certificates (or a combination of both) (the person, his parents and grandparents) and three

marriage certificate A marriage certificate (sometimes: marriage lines) is an official statement that two people are married. In most jurisdictions, a marriage certificate is issued by a government official only after the civil registration of the marriage. In so ...

s (parents and grandparents) or certified proofs thereof: ***'' Ahnenpaß'' (literally

ancestor An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder or a forebear, is a parent or ( recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from w ...

passport A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that contains a person's identity. A person with a passport can travel to and from foreign countries more easily and access consular assistance. A passport certifies the personal ...

) ***'' Ahnentafel'', a certified

genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...

table *''Großer Ariernachweis'' (Greater Aryan certificate) was required for compliance with the requirements of the ''

Reichserbhofgesetz The ''Reichserbhofgesetz'', the Hereditary Farm Law, of 1933 was a Nazi law to implement principles of blood and soil, stating that its aim was to: "preserve the farming community as the blood-source of the German people". As farmers appeared in Na ...

'' (land heritage law) and membership in the

Nazi party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

. This certificate had to trace the family pedigree down to 1800 (to 1750 for SS officers). According to the especially strict regulation of this law which included the goal of "Preserving the Purity of German Blood," the only eligible were those who could prove (reaching back to January 1, 1800) that "none of their paternal nor their maternal ancestors had Jewish or colored blood".Quotation in German: "''wer unter seinen Vorfahren väterlicherseits oder mütterlicherseits kein jüdisches oder farbiges Blut hat"''; in: Isabel Heinemann. ''Rasse, Siedlung, deutsches Blut'', Wallstein Verlag, 1999, , p. 54

Legal relevance today

Among other documents, the Aryan certificate is still recognised today by German authorities as proof of nationality, since it contains officially certified birth and marriage data, which are deemed to be a substitute for corresponding original documents.

References

*Nicholas John Fogg, 'German genealogy during the Nazi period (1933-1945)', in '' Genealogists' Magazine'', vol. 30, no. 9 (London: March 2012) pages 347–362. {{Authority control Nazi eugenics Identity documents of Nazi Germany

Legal relevance today

See also

References