Nuremberg Race Laws

Two laws were formulated in Nuremberg. The first was the Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour, which prohibited Jews from marrying or engaging in sexual intercourse with Germans. Marriages between Jews and Germans were to be annulled. The second law was the Reich Citizenship Law and deprived Jews of their civil rights, so that they could no longer to invoke their right to protection under the constitution. In addition, Jews in government service were relieved of their duties.
The Nuremberg laws were based on the Nazi ideology, which presumed the existence of racial differences. The races were believed to have characteristic physical, psychological and social attributes. The Nazis believed that the ’Jewish race‘ was inferior to the German – or Aryan – race. They determined whether a person was Jewish based on the number of Jewish grandparents that person had. (Also see under Jew).