An Aryan paragraph () was a clause in the statutes of an organisation, corporation, or real estate deed that reserved membership or right of residence solely for members of the "

Aryan race The Aryan race is a pseudoscientific historical race concepts, historical race concept that emerged in the late-19th century to describe people who descend from the Proto-Indo-Europeans as a Race (human categorization), racial grouping. The ter ...

" and excluded from such rights any non-Aryans, particularly those of

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

and Slavic descent. They were an omnipresent aspect of public life in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

from 1885 to 1945. One of the first documented examples of such a paragraph was written by the Austrian nationalist leader and anti-Semite Georg von Schönerer in his nationalistic Linz Program of 1882, and countless German national sports-clubs, song societies, school clubs, harvest circles and

fraternities A fraternity (; whence, " brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club or fraternal order traditionally of men but also women associated together for various religious or secular aims. Fraternity in the Western conce ...

followed suit.

In Nazi Germany

The best-known Aryan paragraphs are in the

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

. They served to exclude Jews from organisations, federations, political parties, and, ultimately, all public life. Besides Jews, people not considered Aryans included

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

, and other

Slavs The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and ...

. Based on the bylaws and programs of antisemitic organisations and parties of the late 19th century (such as the German Social Party in 1889), the Aryan Paragraph first appeared in the Third Reich in the formulation of the ''

Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service (, shortened to ''Berufsbeamtengesetz''), also known as Civil Service Law, Civil Service Restoration Act, and Law to Re-establish the Civil Service, was enacted by the Nazi Party, Na ...

'', which was passed on 7 April 1933. It stipulated that only those of Aryan descent, i.e. without Jewish parents or grandparents, could be employed in the civil service. The Aryan Paragraph was extended to education on 25 April 1933, in the ''Law against the Overcrowding of German Schools and Universities''. On June 30 of the same year, it was broadened to include even marriage to a "non-Aryan" as sufficient cause for exclusion from a civil service career. In keeping with Nazi synchronisation (''

Gleichschaltung The Nazi term (), meaning "synchronization" or "coordination", was the process of Nazification by which Adolf Hitler—leader of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, Germany—established a system of totalitarian control and coordination over all ...

''), Nazi Party pressure led many federations and organisations to adopt the Aryan Paragraph. Thus, Jews were barred from the public health system, honorary public offices, editorial offices (Editor Law), theatres (''

Reichskulturkammer The Reich Chamber of Culture (''Reichskulturkammer'', abbreviated as RKK) was a government agency in Nazi Germany. It was established by law on 22 September 1933 in the course of the '' Gleichschaltung'' process at the instigation of Reich Minist ...

''), and agriculture ('' Reichserbhofgesetz''). This discrimination culminated in the

Nuremberg Laws The Nuremberg Laws (, ) 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 the Nazi Party. The two laws were the Law ...

"for the final separation of Jewry from the German ''

Volk The German noun ''Volk'' () translates to :wikt:people, people, both uncountable in the sense of ''people'' as in a crowd, and countable (plural ''Völker'') in the sense of ''People, a people'' as in an ethnic group or nation (compare the E ...

''". Prior to this, there were exceptions, such as combat veterans, service in the National Rising 'Erhebung''

honorary Aryan Honorary Aryan () was a semi-official category and expression used in Nazi Germany and its territories to justify certain individuals who, according to the Nuremberg Laws, were not recognized as belonging to the Aryan race, but who were nonethe ...

s, and so on, but now Jews and "Jewish mixed-breeds" ( Mischlinge) were banned from practically all professions. The Aryan Paragraph was accepted largely without protest, except within the Evangelical Church, where it provoked the splitting off of the Confessing Church.

References

Sources

* * * The information about Germany and Austria was translated from the German Wikipedia article on this subject. {{DEFAULTSORT:Aryan Paragraph Aryanism Nazi terminology Holocaust racial laws Real estate in Austria Real estate in Germany Repealed German legislation Antisemitism in Austria Antisemitism in Germany Anti-Slavic sentiment Race in Nazi Germany

In Nazi Germany

See also

References

Sources