The Jewish Expert in the Ministry of Interior ΓÇô Part 2
From the memoirs of Bernhard Loesener, Jewish Expert in the Ministry of Interior
Source : Bernhard Loesener , Als Rassenreferent im Ministerium des Inneren' [Racial in the Ministry of Interior], Vierteljahresheftepert fuer Zeitgeschichte 1961, No. 3 . pp. 264-285. [Dr. Bernhard Loesener was born in 1890, studied law, participated in World War I as an officer, and entered the civil service after completing his studies in 1922. In April 1933 he was transferred to the Ministry of Interior. He was arrested in 1944 and accused of subversive activity. Loesener died in 1952.]
Hitler invited the Reichstag to convene at Nuremberg on the occasion of the 'Party ally for Freedom', which was to begin on 8 September 1935. The Reichstag was to meet on Sunday, September 15, and pass the Reich Flag Law [making the Swastika the national flag of the German Reich]. This law had been prepared by the Ministry of Interior. Starting Monday, 8 September, the Berlin office stopped functioning because all the upper echelons were in Nuremberg. We, who stayed behind, gathered on Friday, 13 September, to celebrate my promotion.... Around 11 o'clock I was called to the phone. My wife told me that the office had called and that they wanted me to fly to Nuremberg the next morning at 7 a.m. It was all about a Jewish law, and I should take some files with me... [After arrival in Nuremberg, Loesener met with Stuckart and Pfundtner, his superiors in the Ministry]. These gentlemen told me that the Fuehrer had ordered them the day before to prepare a draft for a Jewish law that was supposed to give the Reichstag meeting the following day some content'. Hitler was afraid that the flag law on its own would be too 'meagre' for such a stately party rally. Hitler instructed Frick to regulate by law all of the issues that the Party had promoted with its ongoing propaganda campaign throughout 1935. This would include prohibition of mixed marriages, of extra-marital sexual intercourse between Jews and Aryans, of employment by Jews of Aryan maids. The gentlemen were exhausted after 5 days of the party rally. They had prepared a few drafts, but were not happy with the results. I was certain that here, in the formulation of these laws, one could accomplish what had been impossible up to now in all of our negotiations with the Party. Hitler himself wanted to sign the law that was to be called the Law for the Protection of German Blood. We believed that this would create a legal foundation (even if its form was undesirable in our eyes), and produce some calm with regard to this issue... It would not have been possible to change Hitler's mind regarding the three points mentioned above. We, however, seized the opportunity to establish a clear legal dividing line that would limit the laws to full Jews only, contrary to the Party, which made no distinction between full Jews and persons of Jewish origin.... During the morning, a representative of the party, Sommer from the Brown House, joined us.... He declared that the Party naturally demanded that all people of Jewish origin be included in the legislation, that existing mixed marriages be annulled, or that the Aryan partners be defined as Jews as well... When we completed the first draft (leaving the Party demands out) I was sent to Frick.... It took me quite a while to get there, because twice I had to cross parades of different organisations on my way... [Frick politely refused any explanations about its content] and took the draft to Hitler. Here something happened which was repeated several times. The Reich Chief Medical Leader ( Reichaertztefuehrer ) Gerhard Wagner had been to Hitler and had proposed some changes. Frick knew nothing about the issue and could not answer Hitler's questions or present the draft properly.... The process repeated itself through Saturday: Frick would go to Hitler with a draft, having no idea about the foundation upon which it was based. Hitler, with Wagner's support, would reject it. And Frick would return with an order by Hitler to make this or that change. Thus, several versions were created with varying grades of harshness.... At midnight, [Frick] came back from Hitler with the final draft.... He told us that the Fuehrer wanted us to prepare four versions with varying degrees of harshness for the following morning. The most moderate version should represent our outlook. To complete the picture, the Fuehrer ordered the preparation of a draft of another law - the citizenship law. Pfundtner asked him with enormous surprise, in a voice that had lost all politeness, what the meaning of such a demand was. Did the Fuehrer have any idea (or some such wording) what serious preparatory work was needed and how many factors were involved in drafting legislation for a Thousand Year Reich.... It was around half past midnight, and we were physically and mentally exhausted after the strenuous work and the tensions of battling with Wagner.... In the end, we quickly prepared a draft that included section 2 paragraph 1. Frick went to Hitler at one thirty.... He returned within an hour - the Fuehrer had approved the draft. The Reichstag meeting took place in the convention hall of a large hotel near the railway station…. We, the officials, had reserved seats behind the speakers' podium in the row before last. After the speeches, it was time to present the laws.… We were happy to hear that Hitler had chosen our version. One sentence for which I had wished was missing – the stipulation that this law applies only to full Jews'.
The two regulations to the Nuremberg Laws of 14 November 1935.
...A week after the laws were ratified, Party officials came to meet Stuckart and me to discuss the implementation of the laws. This matter was even more significant than the laws themselves. This was especially true with regard to the citizenship law, which was only empty words. It was the implementation regulation that was to give it some concrete content. Our task was to define and make a clear distinction once and for all between Jew and non-Jew.… Meetings with representatives of the Brown House [Party people] took place at least every other day. Their delegation changed constantly…. It was Stuckart, who devoted all his time to the matter, and I who were at the front line of the battle. Pfundtner asked us to update him regularly about the situation. Frick showed no interest, although we attempted to involve him. Thus, our position was tactically inferior from the start, as the Party representatives had access to Hitler, and we did not. Our memoranda were left unanswered, because Hitler never read written material from government offices. We could present our point of view to Hitler only rarely, by going through Lammers. But Hitler was in any case listening to Gerhard Wagner, who would come to him to complain about our stubbornness…. The negotiations continued endlessly through October with smaller and bigger meetings.... As far as I recall, there were about thirty drafts for each of the law's related regulations…. Eventually, the proposals for the regulations of 14 November 1935 were completed. They bore all the signs of a poor compromise – they were unsystematic and were riddled with internal contradictions. But this too was a great achievement, even if it was only partial. Most importantly, they protected some of the half Jews from being treated as full Jews...
