Source: J. Noakes & G. Pridham, Documents on Nazism 1919-1945, (London, 1974), pp.384-386.
By upholding the old German custom of entailment, the Reich Government wishes to retain the peasantry as the blood spring of the German nation. The peasant farms are to be protected from heavy indebtedness and from being split up in the course of inheritance, so that they may remain in the hands of free peasants as the inheritance of their kin. It is intended to work towards a healthy distribution of agricultural units, since a large number of viable small and medium-sized farms, distributed as evenly as possible over the whole country, forms the best guarantee for the maintenance of the health of the nation of the State. The Reich Government therefore promulgates the following law.
The basic principles of the law are: An agricultural or forestry property consisting of at least 7.5 hectares and at most 125 hectares is an entailed-farm provided it belongs to a person qualified to be a peasant. The owner of the entailed-farm is called a peasant. Only German citizens of German blood or of that of a similar race and who are respectable are eligible to be peasants. The entailed-farm is passed on undivided to the heir. The rights of the co-heirs are limited to the remaining property of the peasant. Those descendants not qualified to be heirs receive a dowry and occupational training corresponding to the resources of the farm; if through no fault of their own they get into difficulties, they will be permitted to seek refuge at home.
The right of inheritance cannot be excluded or limited by instructions because of death. The entailed-farm is absolutely barred from encumbrance and is inalienable. 5. The creation of an entailed-farm through special dispensation. (1.) The Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture may, after consultation with the District [Kreis] Peasant Leader and the Gau Peasant Leader, permit exceptions to the requirements of section 3. [These requirements referred to the maximum size of the farm - 125 hectares - and to the need for the farm to be operated without farm steadying.] (2) But a size in excess of 125 hectares should normally only be permitted: 1. When it appears imperative owing to the type of soil or the climate. 2. When it concerns a farm which is economically self-contained and whose estates have been rounded off and when it can be proved to have been in the possession of the family of the peasant for more than 150 years. 3. When a German who has made a particular contribution to the welfare of the German people is to be honoured either personally or through his descendants. 4. When the family which resides on the farm has created works of value there (for example, buildings of artistic interest or of importance in the history of art) for which a size of no more than 125 hectares would provide an inadequate economic foundation. (3) The precondition that the farm should be capable of being farmed without farm steadying can be lifted only if special operating conditions require the farm steadying. ...
