Editing Mischling (section)

==Jewish identity in society==
Soon after the passage of the [[Enabling Act of 1933]], the Nazi government promulgated several [[antisemitism|antisemitic]] statutes, including the [[Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service]] on 7 April 1933. Using this law, the regime aimed to dismiss—along with all politically-suspect persons such as social democrats, socialists, communists, and many liberals of all religions—all "non-Aryans" from all government positions in society, including public educators, and those practicing medicine in state hospitals.

As a result, the term "non-Aryan"<ref>The rather awkward term was a circumlocution for "Jew" ({{langx|de|italic=yes|Jude}}) and was used in legal parlance until the Nuremberg Laws of September 1935. See [[Mischling Test]].</ref> had to be defined in a way that was compatible with Nazi ideology. Under the "First Racial Definition" supplementary decree of 11 April, issued to clarify portions of the act passed four days prior, a "non-Aryan" (e.g., a Jew) was defined as one who had at least one Jewish parent or grandparent. Later, German citizens with only one Jewish grandparent were defined by the Nuremberg Laws as ''Mischling'' of the second degree. Their employment restrictions remained, but they were permitted to marry non-Jewish and non-''Mischling'' Germans, and were not imprisoned. This distinction was not applied to non-German citizens.<ref>See [[Mischling Test]] article for more detail.</ref>

According to the philosophy of Nazi antisemitism, Jewry was considered a group of people bound by close, genetic (blood) ties who formed an [[ethnic group|ethnic unit]] that one could neither join nor secede from. Early 20th-century books on [[Nordicism]] such as [[Madison Grant]]'s ''[[The Passing of the Great Race]]'' had a profound effect on Hitler's antisemitism. He was convinced that the Nordic Race/Culture constituted a superior branch of humanity, and viewed International Jewry as a parasitic and inferior race, determined to corrupt and exterminate both Nordic peoples and their culture through ''[[Rassenschande]]'' ("racial pollution") and cultural corruption.

Hitler declared that [[Jewish Bolshevism|Marxism was constructed by International Jewry]], with the aim of Bolshevising the earth, ultimately allowing Jewry to dominate/exterminate the Aryan race. With this in mind, Hitler viewed Russia as a nation of ''[[Untermensch]]en'' ("subhumans" or 'Inferiors") dominated by their Judaic masters, which posed the gravest threat to both Germany and Europe as a whole.

The Nazis defined Jewishness as partly genetic, but did not always use formal genetic tests or [[physiognomy|physiognomic]] (facial) features to determine one's status (although the Nazis talked a lot about physiognomy as a racial characteristic). In practice, records concerning the religious affiliation(s) of one's grandparents were often the deciding factor (mostly christening records and membership registers of Jewish congregations).<ref>Outward features of one's physiognomy could play a role in paternity suits seeking reclassification and/or obtaining/debating ''Mischling'' degree.</ref>

[[File:1938 German Wehrpass issued to a Jewish man classified as a Mischling and released from active duty two years later.jpg|thumb|1938 German Wehrpass issued to a Jewish man classified as a Mischling and released from active duty two years later.]]

===Reclassification procedures===
Nonetheless, reclassification procedures of ''Mischling'' were conducted within society. These requests for reclassification (e.g., Jew to ''Mischling'' of 1st degree, ''Mischling'' of 1st degree to 2nd degree, etc.) or [[Aryanization (Nazism)|Aryanization]] (see [[German Blood Certificate]]) were rarely given, as each had to be personally reviewed and concurred by [[Adolf Hitler]]. Once approved by the Nazi party chancellery and Hitler, it was recognized throughout the Nazi community as an act of grace (''Gnadenakt''). Other de facto reclassifications, lacking any official document, were privileges accorded by high-ranking Nazis to certain artists and other experts by way of special protection.<ref>Cf. for reclassifications by way of acts of mercy: Beate Meyer,'' 'Jüdische Mischlinge' – Rassenpolitik und Verfolgungserfahrung 1933–1945'' (<sup>1</sup>1999), Hamburg: Dölling und Galitz, <sup>2</sup>2002, Studien zur jüdischen Geschichte; vol. 6, simultaneously Hamburg, Univ., Diss., 1998, {{ISBN|3-933374-22-7}}, especially chapter 'IV. Andere "Ehrenarier"' (Other "honorary Aryans"), pp. 152–160.</ref>

The second way of reclassification was through a [[declaratory judgment]] in court. Usually, the discriminated person took the action, questioning their descent from the Jewish-classified man until then regarded as their biological (grand)father.<ref>One action was recorded where the plaintiff questioned the parentage of his Jewish-classified mother, claiming he had been confused in the maternity clinic for another infant.</ref> [[Paternity law|Paternity suits]] aiming for reclassification ({{langx|de|Abstammungsverfahren|links=no}}) appeared mostly with deceased, divorced, or illegitimate (grand)fathers. They usually sought to change the discriminated litigant's status from Jewish-classified to ''Mischling'' of first degree, or from ''Mischling'' of first degree to second degree. The numbers of such suits soared whenever the Nazi government imposed new discriminations and persecutions (such as the Nuremberg Laws in 1935, [[Kristallnacht]] in 1938, and the systematic [[Deportation#Deportation during World War II|deportations of Jewish Germans and Gentile Germans of Jewish descent]] to concentration camps in 1941).<ref>The "Institute for Genetics and Racial Hygienics" in [[Frankfurt]] delivered 448 medical evidences for paternity suits aiming for reclassification in Frankfurt and its environs. In December 1938 the Institute of Racial Biology of the [[University of Hamburg]] complained that since the Kristallnacht judges demanded every week 20 more medical pieces of evidence for paternity suits aiming for reclassification in [[Hamburg]]. Cf. Beate Meyer,'' 'Jüdische Mischlinge' – Rassenpolitik und Verfolgungserfahrung 1933–1945'' (<sup>1</sup>1999), Hamburg: Dölling und Galitz, <sup>2</sup>2002, Studien zur jüdischen Geschichte; vol. 6, simultaneously Hamburg, Univ., Diss., 1998, pp. 112seq. {{ISBN|3-933374-22-7}}</ref>

The process was humiliating for the (grand)mothers who had to declare in court that they had committed adultery. The petitions were successful in the majority of cases. The high success rate recorded was a result of several factors. First, there was no risk in paternity suits since litigant classification cannot be downgraded. Consequently, lawyers were willing to represent litigants, though it was common practice to refuse hopeless cases. Some lawyers even specialized in this type of procedure. Second, usually, all the family members cooperated; including the sometimes still-living disputed (grand)father. Likely alternative fathers were often named, who either appeared themselves in court confirming their likely fatherhood, or who were already dead but were known as good friends, neighbors, or subtenants of the (grand)mother. Third, the obligatory and humiliating body examinations of those under suspicion were skewed by stereotypical Jewish perceptions. Expert witnesses would search for allegedly Jewish facial features, as conceived and understood by anti-Semites. If the doubted (grand)father was already dead, emigrated, or deported (as after 1941), the examination searched for these supposedly "Jewish" features in the physiognomy of the descendant (child). Since anti-Semitic clichés on Jewish outward appearance were so stereotyped, the average litigant did not show features clearly indicating their Jewish descent, so they often documented ambiguous results as medical evidence.<ref>Furthermore, many of the involved public health officers did not believe in the pseudo-scientific categories of Aryan and Jewish races, but considered it a farce, and would even tell this to their patients during the examination. So there exists the possibility that they delivered ambiguous medical pieces of evidence on purpose.</ref> Fourth, the judges tended to believe the accounts of the (grand)mothers, alternative fathers, doubted fathers, and other witnesses who had endured such public humiliation. They were not recorded for earlier perjuring, and judges would declare the prior paternity annulled, ensuring the status improvement for the litigant.<ref>Cf. for reclassifications by paternity suits the very instructive book: Beate Meyer,'' 'Jüdische Mischlinge' – Rassenpolitik und Verfolgungserfahrung 1933–1945'' (<sup>1</sup>1999), Hamburg: Dölling und Galitz, <sup>2</sup>2002, Studien zur jüdischen Geschichte; vol. 6, simultaneously Hamburg, Univ., Diss., 1998, {{ISBN|3-933374-22-7}}, especially chapter 'III. Abstammungsverfahren vor Zivilgerichten' (suits on a descent in ordinary courts), pp. 109–151.</ref>

===Standards of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS)===
The [[Schutzstaffel]] (SS) used a more stringent standard. In order to join, a candidate had to prove (presumably through [[baptism]]al records) that all direct ancestors born since 1750 were not Jewish, or they would have to apply for a [[German Blood Certificate]] instead. When the stresses of World War II made it impracticable to confirm the ancestry of officer candidates, the extended proof of ancestry regulation was diminished to the standard laws requiring certified evidence of non-Judaism within two generations.

===Jewish ''Mischlinge'' as Christian converts===
In the 19th century, many Jewish Germans converted to [[Christianity]]; most of them becoming [[Protestantism|Protestants]] rather than [[Catholic Church|Catholics]].<ref>According to the 1933 census concerning Germany, in an overall population of 62 million, 41 million parishioners enlisted with one of the 28 different [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]], [[Calvinism|Calvinist]] and [[United and uniting churches|United]] Protestant [[Landeskirche|church bodies]], making up 66% of the people; as opposed to 21.1 million Catholics (32,5%). The largest of which, the [[Prussian Union of churches|Evangelical Church of the Old Prussian Union]], comprised 18 million enlisted parishioners. Noteworthy families of Jewish descent who converted to Protestantism included those of [[Karl Marx]] and [[Felix Mendelssohn]]. The borders of Germany changed several times between the [[Napoleonic era]] and the rise of [[Nazi Germany]]. Areas at times under French or Polish political or cultural dominance were overwhelmingly Catholic within the Gentile community.</ref> Two-thirds of the German population were Protestant until 1938, when the [[Anschluss]] annexation of Austria to Germany added six million Catholics. The addition of 3.25 million Catholic Czechoslovaks of German ethnicity ([[Sudetenland|Sudeten]] Germans) increased the percentage of Roman Catholics in Greater Germany to 41% (approximately 32.5 million vs. 45.5 million Protestants or 57%) in a 1939 population estimated at 79 million. One percent of the population was Jewish.

German converts from Judaism typically adopted whichever Christian denomination was most dominant in their community. Therefore, about 80% of the [[Gentile]] Germans persecuted as Jews according to the Nuremberg Laws were affiliated with one of the 28 regionally-delineated Protestant church bodies.<ref>''›Büro Pfarrer Grüber‹ Evangelische Hilfsstelle für ehemals Rasseverfolgte. Geschichte und Wirken heute'', edited by the Evangelische Hilfsstelle für ehemals Rasseverfolgte ("Evangelical Centre to Help the Formerly Racially Persecuted"), Berlin: no publ., 1988, p. 8. No ISBN.</ref> In 1933, approximately 77% of German Gentiles with Jewish ancestry were Protestant. In the 1939 census, however, the percentage dropped to 66%. This is due to the annexation of several areas in 1938, including Vienna and Prague, both of which have relatively large and well-established Catholic populations of Jewish descent.<ref>Ursula Büttner, "Von der Kirche verlassen: Die deutschen Protestanten und die Verfolgung der Juden und Christen jüdischer Herkunft im "Dritten Reich"", In: ''Die verlassenen Kinder der Kirche: Der Umgang mit Christen jüdischer Herkunft im "Dritten Reich"'', Ursula Büttner and Martin Greschat (eds.), Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1998, pp. 15-69, here footnote 20 on pp. 20seq. {{ISBN|3-525-01620-4}}.</ref> Converts to Christianity and their descendants had often married Christians with no recent Jewish ancestry.

As a result, by the time the Nazis came to power, many Protestants and Roman Catholics in Germany had some traceable Jewish ancestry (usually traced back by the Nazi authorities for two generations), so that the majority of 1st- or 2nd-degree ''Mischlinge'' were Protestant, yet many were Catholics. A considerable number of German Gentiles with Jewish ancestry were [[irreligion]]ists.

Lutherans with Jewish ancestry were largely in northwestern and [[northern Germany]], [[Prussian Union of churches|Evangelical Protestants]] of Jewish descent in [[Central Germany (cultural area)|Central Germany]] (Berlin and its southwestern environs) and the [[former eastern territories of Germany|country's east]]. Catholics with Jewish ancestry lived mostly in [[Western Germany|Western]] and [[Southern Germany]], [[Austria]] and what is now the [[Czech Republic]].