Editing Nazi Germany (section)

=== Law ===
{{Main|Law in Nazi Germany}}
[[File:Nuremberg_laws.jpg|thumb|Chart showing the [[pseudo-scientific]] racial divisions used in the racial policies of Nazi Germany|alt=]]
In August 1934, civil servants and members of the military were required to swear an oath of unconditional obedience to Hitler. These laws became the basis of the ''Führerprinzip'', the concept that Hitler's word overrode all existing laws.{{sfn|Evans|2005|pp=43–44}} Any acts that were sanctioned by Hitler—even murder—thus became legal.{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=45}} All legislation proposed by cabinet ministers had to be approved by the office of [[Deputy Führer]] [[Rudolf Hess]], who could also veto top civil service appointments.{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=46}}

Most of the judicial system and legal codes of the Weimar Republic remained in place to deal with non-political crimes.{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=75}} The courts issued and carried out far more death sentences than before the Nazis took power.{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=75}} People who were convicted of three or more offences—even petty ones—could be deemed habitual offenders and jailed indefinitely.{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=76}} People such as prostitutes and pickpockets were judged to be inherently criminal and a threat to the community. Thousands were arrested and confined indefinitely without trial.{{sfn|Evans|2005|pp=79–80}}

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-J03166, Berlin, Amtsübernahme Dr. Thierack.jpg|thumb|A meeting of the four jurists who imposed Nazi ideology on the legal system of Germany (left to right: [[Roland Freisler]], [[Franz Schlegelberger]], [[Otto Georg Thierack]], and [[Curt Rothenberger]])|alt=]]
A new type of court, the ''[[Volksgerichtshof]]'' ("People's Court"), was established in 1934 to deal with political cases.{{sfn|Evans|2005|pp=68, 70}} This court handed out over 5,000 death sentences until its dissolution in 1945.{{sfn|Evans|2008|p=514}} The death penalty could be issued for offences such as being a communist, printing seditious leaflets, or even making jokes about Hitler or other officials.{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=72}} The Gestapo was in charge of investigative policing to enforce Nazi ideology as they located and confined political offenders, Jews, and others deemed undesirable.{{sfn|Weale|2012|p=154}} Political offenders who were released from prison were often immediately re-arrested by the Gestapo and confined in a concentration camp.{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=73}}

The Nazis used propaganda to promulgate the concept of ''[[Rassenschande]]'' ("race defilement") to justify the need for racial laws.{{sfn|Evans|2005|pp=539, 551}} In September 1935, the Nuremberg Laws were enacted. These laws initially prohibited sexual relations and marriages between Aryans and Jews and were later extended to include "Gypsies, Negroes or their bastard offspring".{{sfn|Gellately|2001|p=216}} The law also forbade the employment of German women under the age of 45 as domestic servants in Jewish households.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=346}} The Reich Citizenship Law stated that only those of "German or related blood" could be citizens.{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=544}} Thus Jews and other non-Aryans were stripped of their German citizenship. The law also permitted the Nazis to deny citizenship to anyone who was not supportive enough of the regime.{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=544}} A supplementary decree issued in November defined as Jewish anyone with three Jewish grandparents, or two grandparents if the Jewish faith was followed.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=347}}{{clear left}}