Die Anfechtung der Rassenmischehe in den Jahren 1933-1939 : die Entwicklung der Rechtsprechung im Dritten Reich : Anpassung und Selbstbehauptung der Gerichte

Surveys court decisions on applications for the invalidation of mixed marriages for racial reasons. Wilhelmine law, which remained in force, stated that a marriage could be invalidated if one partner discovered in the other a personal defect (e.g. mental disease) which, had he known of it, would have prevented the marriage. Nazi judges held that Jewish blood was such a defect; but most of them ruled that it would have been known at the time of the marriage and thus was not a ground for invalidation. Some, however, argued that many Germans became aware only in 1933 of harmful Jewish racial characteristics. Hitler, for political reasons, opposed legislation facilitating the dissolution of mixed marriages. Thus, a new marriage law passed in 1938 did not expressly mention these. However, it provided for annulment of a marriage if one partner had been ignorant of the circumstances (rather than personal characteristics) of the other. Since the circumstances of the Jews were constantly changing for the worse, courts could now nullify almost any mixed marriage when desired by an Aryan partner. After 1941 this meant the almost certain death of the Jewish partner. Attributes the attitude of the judges, who enjoyed relative autonomy in the Nazi state (no judge was ever seriously penalized for his verdicts), to ideological solidarity and careerism. Includes bibliographical references and index. xxii, 233 pages ; 24 cm.