Aryan paragraph

An Aryan paragraph (

Jewish and Slavic descent. They were an omnipresent aspect of public life in Germany and Austria

from 1885 to 1945.

One of the first documented examples of such a paragraph was written by the Austrian nationalist leader and anti-Semite

school clubs, harvest circles and fraternities

followed suit.

In Nazi Germany

The best-known Aryan paragraphs are in the

legislation of Nazi Germany. They served to exclude Jews from organisations, federations, political parties, and, ultimately, all public life. Besides Jews, people not considered Aryans included Poles, Serbs, Russians, and other Slavs.^[1]^[2]

Based on the bylaws and programs of antisemitic organisations and parties of the late 19th century (such as the German Social Party in 1889), the Aryan Paragraph first appeared in the Third Reich in the formulation of the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, which was passed on 7 April 1933. It stipulated that only those of Aryan descent, i.e. without Jewish parents or grandparents, could be employed in the civil service.^[3] The Aryan Paragraph was extended to education on 25 April 1933, in the Law against the Overcrowding of German Schools and Universities.^[4]

On June 30 of the same year, it was broadened to include even marriage to a "non-Aryan" as sufficient cause for exclusion from a civil service career. In keeping with Nazi

Mischlinge) were banned from practically all professions. The Aryan Paragraph was accepted largely without protest, except within the Evangelical Church, where it provoked the splitting off of the Confessing Church

.