Anti-Jewish legislation in pre-war Nazi Germany comprised several laws that segregated the Jews from German society and restricted Jewish people's political, legal and civil rights. Major legislative initiatives included a series of restrictive laws passed in 1933, the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, and a final wave of legislation preceding Germany's entry into World War II and the Holocaust.
The Enabling Act of 1933 established the power of the Nazi-led government to pass law by decree, bypassing the approval of parliament. It was passed on March 23, 1933, and effectively nullified the Weimar Constitution.
Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service
In April 1933, the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, or 'Civil Service Law', as it was more commonly known when passed, established the ability of the Nazi-led government to legally remove undesirables from the civil service profession, including doctors, teachers and lawyers.
This Law created the basis for the years to come, the Nazi party saw "racial purity [as a] condition of superior cultural creation and of the construction of a powerful state". The Civil Service Law was used to exclude Jews from key areas of German society.
The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service "defined the three groups of undesirable civil servants and provided for their dismissal".
The first group included those appointed after November 9, 1918, and could be removed if they did not have the proper training, which meant anyone could fit into these standards.
The second group were those who were deemed by their past that they would not always support the national state, e.g. members of the Communist Party, or any related or associated organisation.
The third group were any "non-Aryans", a way of excluding the Jews without explicitly mentioning "Jews" in the legislation.
Law Concerning Admission to the Legal Profession
This act of legislation was also passed in April as a supplement to the Civil Service Law. This law specifically attacked judges and public prosecutors, and forbade any Jews from taking the Bar examination which was necessary to become a lawyer.
Decree Regarding Physicians' Services with the National Health Service
This law affected Jewish doctors, and subsequently Jewish health care. Passed also in April, under this legislation, patients who saw a "non-Aryan" doctor would not be covered under the national health insurance, thus excluding Jewish doctors from German society.
The Law Against the Over-Crowding of German Schools
Looking to further enact their racial agenda, the Nazi party then looked toward curbing educational policy. On April 25, 1933, the Law Against the Over-Crowding of German schools was passed, and required an end to any Weimar teachings that discussed democracy and equality; it enforced the teaching of racial pride. Under the guise of a concern for educational over-crowding, the Nazis limited the number of Jewish students enrolled in German schools to 1.5% of the total enrollment.
July 1933 Citizenship and Denaturalization Law
With the goal of excluding Jews from having full citizenship rights, an Advisory Committee for Population and Race Policy met at the ministry of the Interior to discuss a new citizenship law.
What followed was the Denaturalization Law passed on July 14. As a result of this law, the Reich government could take away the citizenship of those who were deemed "undesirable", applying to anyone who had been given citizenship by the Weimar government. Those who saw the results of this law first were the "150,000 Eastern Jews in Germany".