The ‘Blood Protection Law’, promulgated in Nuremberg on 15 September 1935, prohibits marriage and extramarital sexual relations between Jews and non-Jews1‘Gesetz zum Schutz des deutschen Blutes und der deutschen Ehre’, Reichsgesetzblatt, 1935, I, pp. 1146–1147. This document has been translated from German.
Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour.2See also the comments on the Reich Citizenship Law of 15 Sept. 1935, Doc. 198. On the background to the law, see Cornelia Essner, Die ‘Nürnberger Gesetze’ oder die Verwaltung des Rassenwahns, 1933–1945 (Paderborn: Schöningh, 2002), pp. 113–140.Dated 15 September 1935.
Steeped in the knowledge that the purity of German blood is the prerequisite for the continued existence of the German people, and inspired by the indomitable will to safeguard the German nation for all time to come, the Reichstag has unanimously adopted the following law, which is promulgated herewith:
§ 1
(1) Marriages between Jews and subjects of the state of German or kindred blood are prohibited. Marriages contracted in violation of this prohibition are invalid, even if they have been contracted abroad in order to circumvent this law.
(2) Proceedings for annulment can be instituted only by the public prosecutor.
§ 2
Extramarital relations between Jews and subjects of the state of German or kindred blood are prohibited.
§ 3
Jews are not permitted to employ female subjects of the state of German or kindred blood under the age of 45 in their households.
§ 4
(1) Jews are forbidden to hoist the Reich and national flag and to display the Reich colours.
(2) They are permitted, however, to display the Jewish colours. The exercise of this right is protected by the state.
§ 5
(1) Anyone who contravenes the prohibition in § 1 will be punished with penal servitude.
(2) A man who contravenes the prohibition in § 2 will be punished with a jail term or penal servitude.
(3) Anyone who contravenes the provisions in §§ 3 or 4 will be punished with a jail termof up to one year or payment of a fine, or both.
§ 6
The Reich Minister of the Interior, in consultation with the Deputy of the Führer and the Reich Minister of Justice, issues the legal and administrative provisions necessary for the implementation and amendment of the law.
§ 7
The law takes effect on the day after its promulgation; § 3, however, will not become effective until 1 January 1936.
Nuremberg, 15 September 1935, at the Reich Party Congress of Freedom.
The Führer and Reich Chancellor
Adolf Hitler
The Reich Minister of the Interior
Frick
The Reich Minister of Justice
Dr Gürtner
The Deputy of the Führer
R. Heß
Reich Minister without Portfolio