Nuremberg Laws
Racial discrimination written into law
15 September 1935
The Nuremberg Laws were racial laws adopted in September 1935. They denied German Jews citizenship rights and prohibited marriages between Jews and other Germans, becoming an important instrument of Nazi persecution.
What the laws changed
The Reichstag adopted the laws on 15 September 1935, and Nazi leaders announced them at the party rally in Nuremberg. They translated Nazi racial ideology into people’s legal status and the rules governing marriage.
Why the story begins before 1935
Legal persecution had already begun. After the Nazis took power in 1933, official decrees targeted Jews and exclusion from public office and the civil service began. The Nuremberg Laws marked a further stage in that process.
The destruction of synagogues and Jewish shops during the November 1938 pogrom followed. The laws belong within the wider development of the Nazi regime, alongside other forms of discrimination and violence.
Explore further
- Nuremberg
The city where the laws were announced.
- Nazi dictatorship
The regime that enacted the racial laws.