Nazi antisemitism was based on racial hatred, codified by the 1935 Nuremberg Laws. These laws sought to separate Jews from German society due to the false belief of their racial inferiority. The Reich Citizenship Law stripped Jews of political power, granting citizenship only to those “of German or related blood,” and the Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor banned intermarriage and sexual relationships between Jews and other Germans.
These laws enacted by the Nazis were inspired by Jim Crow laws and racist policies in the United States. This month’s artifact, a sign from Munich, Germany in 1939 that reads “Juden Verboten” (Forbidden to Jews), calls to mind segregationist signs in America that were designed to separate black and white Americans based on another false belief in racial inferiority. For more information on this subject, we recommend Hitler’s American Model by James Whitman.