862.00 P.R./252
Political Report of the Ambassador in Germany (Wilson)50
1. Jewish Names Made Compulsory for Jews. A law promulgated August 18 (Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, No. 130 of August 18, 1938) compels Jews to bear Jewish given names. The law does not apply in Austria nor does it affect foreign Jews living in Germany.
In cases where Jews do not bear those given names designated as Jewish by the Minister of the Interior, they will be forced to adopt, by January 1, 1939, the given name of Israel (in the case of a man) or Sara (in the case of a woman). Jews thus affected will be obliged to inform the registry and police authorities of their change of name before the end of January 1939, and will be compelled to use these added names in all legal and business correspondence. A prison sentence of six months is envisaged for wilful failure to adopt the required Jewish name, a sentence of one month imprisonment for those who fail to do so by negligence, and a sentence of one month imprisonment for failure to notify the competent authorities of the change of name.
A circular instruction (Runderlass) of the Ministry of the Interior which has been published in the press designates the following names as Jewish:
[Here follows list of names designated as Jewish.]
The circular instruction also furnishes the registry offices with certain directions which they are to follow in accepting registration of children’s names in the future. In order to “further the tribal idea” (Sippengedanken), in principle only German given names shall be bestowed upon German children. Certain foreign names, however, which have been sanctioned as German by long usage, will be accepted, examples of these being Hans, Joachim, Peter, Julius, Elisabeth, Maria, Sofie and Charlotte. The names of Björn, Sven, Ragnhild are apparently to be regarded as inappropriate for German children, even though ultra-Nordic.
The procedure of annoying the Jews, the thoroughness of which reflects creditably upon German inventiveness and attention to detail, has been carried out in Berlin to the point of withdrawing low license numbers from Jewish automobile owners who are now being given [Page 390] plates higher than the number IA 300,000. (Julius Streicher’s Stürmer has suggested that driving licenses be withdrawn from Jews altogether.) On Saturday, August 20, a police raid was carried out on a bathing establishment on the Stölpchensee near Berlin where 95 per cent of the bathers were found to be Jewish. The German press reports that 11 foreign Jews were unable to identify themselves and that 99 German Jews, who lacked identification papers, were arrested on the suspicion of representing criminal elements. It appears that while Jews are not permitted to visit German health resorts generally, they are also not being given much peace in those few places allowed them as being predominantly Jewish. According to a recent visitor to a Jewish resting home in Bavaria, the police adopted the custom of calling at three o’clock in the morning to examine the guests’ identification papers. This, however, may be an isolated case.
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- Transmitted to the Department by the Ambassador in his despatch No. 323, August 30; received September 9.↩