German 1935 Racial Purity Chart

[gitana]

I'm interested in infographics and was familiar with this from the example the Holocaust Museum has posted online, so grabbed it when I had the chance. It's an original poster clarifying the 1935 Law for the Protection of German Blood (blood purity law), describing pure aryan, mixed bloods, and Jews, and which marriages were permitted or forbidden. The note on the back of the poster says, "From Julius Streicher's office in Nuremberg, 1945." 

 

It was from the estate of Earle Randall, formerly of the Counter Intelligence Corps.  As of 1940 he had three degrees from Harvard, all in Romance languages. He entered service in 1943, was discharged around 1946, and stayed with the American Military government until 1948. In 1945 he was stationed in Nuremberg as an Agent with CIC Detachment 970/7. I don't have much information on Randall's wartime service, only enough to establish he was there in 1945. 

 

The Nazis had forced Streicher to leave Nuremberg but he was still associated with the newspaper Der Stürmer, the main office of which was in the city. He 'retired' to his country estate, Pleikershof, a few miles outside of Nuremberg. After the war there was a vast multitude of books, art, papers, etc at both locations, and both were regularly looted by soldiers even before the CIC art historians and the German officials helping were able to secure them. So the poster could have come from either location.

 

The poster is the same size as the one at the Holocaust museum (about 4 feet wide) but the edges are intact. It was originally taped and folded, and kept in a large envelope, which actually helped it retain its original color. It was then conserved to remove the tape and folds, but with only a minimum amount of restoration, leaving tears and holes and residue. The conservator re-aligned the torn pieces and used archival adhesive on the rear. 

 

I have seen only two examples of this size online. It may not interest many people, or may be a scarce item, but directly from Streicher's office is quite a souvenir. Maybe there is a photo of either location showing this poster on the wall - that would be really neat. 

 

 

Pre-conservation (laid across a dining room table)

 

 

 

 

 

Post conservation and framing (there is some glare in the glass)

 

 

[USCapturephotos]

WOW. I love GI war souvenirs and find ones brought back from the offices of high level Nazis to be especially intriguing. This is also something that I have my students discuss when I teach the Holocaust, the Nuremberg Laws etc. It's really a fascinating and horrifying piece of history all rolled into one. If you ever decide to let it go, please keep me in mind.

Thanks for sharing it.

Paul

[Rakkasan187]

Great piece of history that tells of such a dark time...

 

Leigh 

[gitana]

Right, to me it's a compelling piece of history, and compelling visually as well. Certainly a different kind of bring-back. 

[USCapturephotos]

Hey Gitana. Not nearly as interesting as your piece, but years ago I found a grouping of snapshots of some high level Nazis…the GI wrote his name and the date on the back. I didn’t recognize them at first but it turns out they were all photos of Alfred Meyer and Alfred Rosenberg…Meyer was at Wannasee and Rosenberg had a lot to do with Holocaust policies. I’m sure the GI grabbed them out of some Gauleiter’s office and may have not realized the significance of those guys.

History is so fascinating!

Paul

[Kurt Barickman]

14 minutes ago, USCapturephotos said:

Hey Gitana. Not nearly as interesting as your piece, but years ago I found a grouping of snapshots of some high level Nazis…the GI wrote his name and the date on the back. I didn’t recognize them at first but it turns out they were all photos of Alfred Meyer and Alfred Rosenberg…Meyer was at Wannasee and Rosenberg had a lot to do with Holocaust policies. I’m sure the GI grabbed them out of some Gauleiter’s office and may have not realized the significance of those guys.

History is so fascinating!

Paul

 

[Kurt Barickman]

Alfred Rosenberg was hanged as a class A War Criminal. I was at the site of the Wansee Conference a couple of weeks  back and also at the Reich Security Main Office site in downtown Berlin as well. Saw quite a few sites related to this exact topic.

 

Kurt

[Martygraw]

Nice piece of history, however dark.