Identification of Jews by the Nazis

[SneintonJim]

How did the Nazis tell who was Jewish and who was not. Did they rely on peoples names, their physical appearance, Synagogue records, tip offs from others, or did Jews actually volunteer the information when asked.

After all how could you prove someone was Jewish if they point blank denied it. Both Goebbels and Himmler looked more "Jewish" (whatever that means) than, say, Paul Newman and William Shatner.

[Dan]

In those days, one's religion was recorded on their official documents. There were also things like language, etc...

[Ovidius]

Both Goebbels and Himmler looked more "Jewish" (whatever that means) than, say, Paul Newman and William Shatner.

1. If you say "whatever that means", then on which basis do you say who looks more Jewish and who doesn't?

2. How does exactly a Jew look(OK, most Central European Jews had red hair, but still)

3. Why should a Jew be differentiated by his physical aspect from a non-Jew, if Jewishness is "just" religion?

~Ovidius

PS Jewishness is everything but religion. Jews are an ethnic group, speaking a common language and having a common history.

[Dan]

PS Jewishness is everything but religion. Jews are an ethnic group, speaking a common language and having a common history

.

Religion is part of it, and they have and have had many languages, but your point is taken.

[Tchort]

If all jews looked like they did in 'The Eternal Jew' then they didn't have much difficulty..

But on a serious note they were much more isolated and less assimilated than today; making them easier to weed out.

[Scott Smith]

The whole point of Eternal Jew, one of Goebbels' three anti-Semitic propaganda films, was that if you have oriental Jews in curls and caftans, and then clean them up and give then a shave, haircut and Western dress, they look just like your neighbors! Thus, the enemy-within is everywhere, because they always remain the same inside--Jews.

[Tchort]

That always was my favorite. 3? I can only think of 2..

[Scott Smith]

That always was my favorite. 3? I can only think of 2..

Ewige Jude, Jud Süß, and Ohm Kruger.
:twisted:

[Roberto]

How did the Nazis tell who was Jewish and who was not. Did they rely on peoples names, their physical appearance, Synagogue records, tip offs from others, or did Jews actually volunteer the information when asked.

After all how could you prove someone was Jewish if they point blank denied it. Both Goebbels and Himmler looked more "Jewish" (whatever that means) than, say, Paul Newman and William Shatner.

SJ,

The criteria applied are described i.a. in the report on THE FINAL SOLUTION OF THE EUROPEAN JEWISH QUESTION that Himmler’s statistician Richard Korherr submitted to his boss at the beginning of 1943.

An English translation of that report can be found on the thread

The Korherr Report
http://thirdreichforum.com/phpBB2/viewt ... 63b4aa7d56

of this forum.

The issue of identification and recording was also addressed at the Wannsee Conference, the protocol of which can be read under the following link:

http://library.byu.edu/~rdh/eurodocs/germ/wanneng.html

The definition of “Jew” in the Nuremberg Laws on Citizenship and Race Laws was the following:

ARTICLE 5 (1) A Jew is an individual who is descended from at least three grandparents who were, racially, full Jews... (2) A Jew is also an individual who is descended from two full-Jewish grandparents if: (a) he was a member of the Jewish religious community when this law was issued, or joined the community later; (b) when the law was issued, he was married to a person who was a Jew, or was subsequently married to a Jew; (c) he is the issue from a marriage with a Jew, in the sense of Section I, which was contracted after the coming into effect of the Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor of September 15, 1935; (d) he is the issue of an extramarital relationship with a Jew, in the sense of Section I, and was born out of wedlock after July 31, 1936.

Source of quote:

http://www.mtsu.edu/~baustin/nurmlaw2.html

[Cantankerous]

Did Nazi scientists have the liberty of identifying certain people as Jewish by measuring the length of the noses of those individuals? We know that huge, plump noses are a Jewish physical trait, and Nazi scientists felt it essential to conduct measurements of people's noses to determine if they were of Aryan heritage.

[wm]

The had the liberty but it was never done in practice. The Nazis had much better and simpler methods at their disposal.