Language:
English
Year of publication:
1997
Titel der Quelle:
Jewish History
Angaben zur Quelle:
11,2 (1997) 53-78
Keywords:
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
Jews Legal status, laws, etc.
;
National socialism Philosophy
;
Church history 20th century
Abstract:
In April 1933, the Nazi regime introduced the first strict racial definition of Germanness into state policy. This new definition gave birth to the genealogy bureaucracy - i.e. a network of party, church, synagogue, academic, and government projects that aided individuals in tracing their family histories. Among the numerous genealogy research institutions in Germany (some of which sprang up long before the Nazi takeover), the State Office for Kinship Research (Reichsstelle für Sippenforschung, or Reichssippenamt) became preeminent and in 1939 took over the Central Archive of the German Jews led by Jacob Jacobson, which possessed much genealogical information. The cooperation of the Churches was crucial for RSF activities, but the Protestant Churches were not always cooperative. The racial classification of Germans proved to be difficult, so in the end religion was brought back into the calculation of who was to be designated as a Jew or a "Mischling". The last project initiated by the RSF was the microfilming of parish registers in the late 1930s.
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