Language:
English
Year of publication:
2006
Titel der Quelle:
Contemporary European History
Angaben zur Quelle:
15,1 (2006) 43-65
Keywords:
Jews History 1939-1945
;
National socialism Philosophy
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
Abstract:
The Nazi racial legislation of 1935 turned the terms "German", "Jew", and "Mischling" into legal categories. A governmental body, which from 1940 bore the name Reichssippenamt (RSA, Reich Kinship Office), was charged with classifying German nationals whose "racial descent" was in doubt. Examines the activities of the RSA between 1941-43. Shows how its practices became more and more radical - due, inter alia, to the influence of the SS and police apparatuses. In determining the "racial status" of the examinees, the employees of the RSA exercised linguistic violence that ensured the exclusion of thousands of fully acculturated Germans of Jewish ancestry. The RSA was not involved in the actual killing of Jews, but it strengthened the legitimacy of Nazi racial categories, and its exercise of linguistic violence played a crucial role in bringing about a political culture in which mass murder became possible.
DOI:
10.1017/S0960777306003092
URL:
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