1938 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 1342 Law on Passports of Jews on 5 October 1938
Based on the law on passport, alien police and registration affairs as well as on identification affairs of 11 May 1934 (Reichsgesetzblatt I, Page 589) the following is ordered in agreement with the Reich Minister of Justice:
Article 1
(1) All German passports of Jews (Article 5 of the first law to the Reich citizenship of 14 November 1935—Reichsgesetzblatt I Page 1333), who reside in the Reich area, become invalid.
(2) The holders of the passports, mentioned in Section (1), are obliged to hand in these passports to the passport authority within Germany, in whose district the holder of the passport has his permanent residence or in lieu of such sojourns temporarily, within 2 weeks after this law becomes effective. For Jews who are staying abroad at the time of publication of this law, this period of two weeks begins with the day of their re-entry into the Reich area.
(3) The passports, made out to be valid abroad, will become valid again if they are marked with a sign designated by the Reich Minister of the Interior, which will mark the holder as a Jew.
Article 2
Whoever carelessly or willfully does not comply with the obligation described in article 1, section 2 will be punished with prison and fined up to 150 marks or with either one of them.
Article 3
The law becomes effective with its promulgation.
Berlin, 5 October 1938.
The Reich Minister of the Interior
By order
Dr. Best.
Law revoking the passports of all German Jews in Germany
Authors
Werner Best (Dr., Ministry of the Interior (security police); RSHA; official in occupied France and Denmark)
Werner Best
German general (1903-1989)
- Born: 1903-07-10 (Darmstadt)
- Died: 1989-06-23 (Mülheim an der Ruhr)
- Country of citizenship: German Empire; Nazi Germany; Weimar Republic; West Germany
- Occupation: Q12766297; diplomat; judge; jurist
- Member of political party: Free Democratic Party; Nazi Party
- Member of: Deutschvölkischer Schutz und Trutzbund; Schutzstaffel
- Participant in: Judges' Trial (date: 1947-02-10; role: affiant); Nuremberg Medical Trial (date: 1947-01-25; role: affiant)
- Significant person: Günther Joël; Viktor Brack (role: colleague)
Wilhelm Frick (Minister of the Interior; chief of Nazi delegation, Reichstag; admin. Plenipotentiary)
Wilhelm Frick
German Nazi official (1877-1946)
- Born: 1877-03-12 (Alsenz)
- Died: 1946-10-16 (Nuremberg)
- Country of citizenship: Germany
- Occupation: diplomat; lawyer; politician
- Member of political party: German Völkisch Freedom Party; National Socialist Freedom Movement; Nazi Party
- Member of: AGV München; Thule Society
- Participant in: Aryanization; Beer Hall Putsch; International Military Tribunal (role: defendant)
- Position held: Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (period: 1943-08-24 through 1945-05-04; replaces: Konstantin von Neurath); Reichsminister des Innern (period: 1933-01-30 through 1943-08-20; replaced by: Heinrich Himmler; replaces: Franz Bracht); member of the Reichstag of Nazi Germany; member of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic
Date: 05 October 1938
Literal Title: 1938 Reichsgestsblatt . . . Law on Passports of Jews on 5 October 1938
Defendant: Wilhelm Frick
Total Pages: 1
Language of Text: English
Source of Text: Nazi conspiracy and aggression (Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946.)
Evidence Code: PS-2120
HLSL Item No.: 451187
Notes:The law was signed by Best for Frick. This document was not entered as evidence on the Leadership Corps.
Trial Issues
Criminal organizations (Gestapo, Leadership Corps, Cabinet, SS, SD, OKW) (… Persecution of political, religious, and ethnic ("racial") groups (IMT, NM…
Document Summary
PS-2120: 5 October 1938. Law on passports of Jews based on law of 11 May 1937 concerning the Issuance of Passports, Police Registration Certificates for Foreigners and Registration as well as the Issuance of Certificates of Identification. Signed by Dr. Best for the Reich Minister of the Interior.