Wannsee Conference Defined Who Was the Jew

Operationally defined, to be more precise – legally it was defined by the Nuremberg Laws in 1935. Operational definition was needed to determine who will be killed – and who will be spared; consequently, it included the definition of what was to be done with the person in question with some Jewish blood

Three possible outcomes for a “part-Jew” were announced at Wannsee Conference they can be: (1) “evacuated to the East” (deported to killing centers in Poland for gassing); (2) interned in “old age ghetto” in Theresienstadt; or (3) left alone.

The chosen destination depended mostly on the amount of Jewish blood in the veins of the individual in question (i.e., on who the person was – not on what he or she did – a textbook definition of genocide) – but also on his/her age (Jews over 65 were theoretically supposed to go to Theresienstadt). As were wounded Great War veterans and veterans with war decorations (Iron Cross First Class).

It must be noted that the “Theresienstadt reprieve” in reality was to be only temporary – in reality it was just another transit ghetto. Ultimately, all its inhabitants were destined to be gassed in killing centers (many were).

Nazis claimed that they defined Jews racially (by blood); however, it was not true because it was impossible (still is). Nazi research centers (Ahnenerbe and others) spent colossal amount of money, time and effort to solve this existential problem – and failed.

So, they had to resort to defining a Jew by the religion of his/her grandparents: everyone who had two grandparents who were of Jewish faith (Judaism) was considered a Jew.

This definition implicitly assumed that two generations ago all Jews by blood were of Jewish faith (which was not the case – but close enough for the Nazis). And, obviously, relied on ledgers taken from synagogues that listed all individuals of Jewish faith in the territory in question.

Individual with three or four Jewish grandparents was considered Volljude (“fully Jewish”) and was subject to mandatory “evacuation” (deportation to the killing center in occupied Poland).

A person with two Jewish grandparents was also “legally Jewish” if that person met any of these conditions: (1) was enrolled as a member of a Jewish congregation when the Nuremberg Laws were issued or joined later; (2) was married to a “full Jew”; (3) was the offspring from a marriage with a Jew, which was concluded after the ban on mixed marriages; or (4) was the offspring of an extramarital affair with a Jew, born out of wedlock after July 31, 1936.

A person who did not belong to any of these categorical conditions, but had two Jewish grandparents was classified as a Mischling of the first degree according to. A person with only one Jewish grandparent (e.g., Vladimir Lenin) was classified as a Mischling of the second degree.

Operational definition of the Jew made by the Wannsee Conference (i.e., Reinhard Heydrich) was murderously broader. Persons of mixed blood (Mischling) of the first degree were to be treated as Jews and thus subject to mandatory “evacuation” (deportation to the killing center in occupied Poland).

There were two exemptions – one general and one individual. Persons of mixed blood of the first degree married to persons of German blood if their marriage has resulted in children (persons of mixed blood of the second degree) were exempt from “evacuation” and these children (Mischling of the second degree) were to be treated essentially as Germans.

Also exempted from evacuation (spared from gassing) were Mischlings of the first degree, for whom the highest offices of the Party and State have already issued exemption permits. However, each individual case was to be examined by the SS, and it was not ruled out that the decision may be made to the detriment of the Mischling in question.

The prerequisite for any exemption had always to be the personal merit of the person of mixed blood. (Not the merit of the parent or spouse of German blood.)

However, Mischling of the first degree who are exempted from evacuation will be sterilized in order to prevent any offspring and to eliminate the problem of persons of mixed blood once and for all. Such sterilization will be voluntary. The sterilized Mischling was thereafter to be free of all restrictions to which he or she was previously subjected by the laws of the Reich.

Mischling of the second degree was to be treated fundamentally as persons of German blood, with the exception of the following cases, in which the persons of mixed blood of the second degree will be considered as Jews:

a)         The person of mixed blood of the second degree was born of a marriage in which both parents are persons of mixed blood.

b)         The person of mixed blood of the second degree had a racially especially undesirable appearance that marks him outwardly as a Jew (which was subject to a wide and highly subjective interpretation).

c)         The person of mixed blood of the second degree has a particularly bad police and political record that shows that he feels and behaves like a Jew (ditto).

In these cases, exemptions were not to be made if the person of mixed blood of the second degree has married a person of German blood.

Marriages between Mischlings of the first degree and persons of German blood were treated especially brutally. If no children have resulted from the marriage, the person of mixed blood of the first degree was be “evacuated” or sent to an old-age ghetto (Theresienstadt).

If children have resulted from the marriage (Mischlings of the second degree), they were, if they were to be treated as Jews, to be “evacuated” or sent to a ghetto along with the parent of mixed blood of the first degree. If these children were to be treated as Germans (regular cases), they were exempted from evacuation as was therefore the parent of mixed blood of the first degree.

In marriages between Mischlings of the first degree and Mischlings of the first degree or Jews all members of the family (including the children) will be treated as Jews and therefore be “evacuated” or sent to an old-age ghetto.

In marriages between Mischlings of the first degree and Mischlings of the second degree both partners were to be “evacuated” or sent to an old- age ghetto without consideration of whether the marriage has produced children, since possible children will as a rule have stronger Jewish blood than the Jewish person of mixed blood of the second degree.