Aachen September 1935
The new laws
passed in Nuremberg were not received with enthusiasm by the public....
As was to be expected knowing the mentality of the Catholic population
of the region, there was no sympathetic reaction by the church. The
only part that was welcome was that the legislation on the Jewish question
will prevent the offensive actions and the violent anti-Semitic propaganda.
It would be desirable if from now on these anti-Semitic actions, which
a large part of the population opposes, would come to a halt. During
the month to which this report refers there were such actions and they
have caused more damage than benefit with the population....
Berlin:
The new laws — the citizenship
law and the law for the
protection of German blood and honor — that were passed by
the Reichstag during the Party Rally of Freedom — have finally,
after many years of struggle between Germandom and Jewry, created clear
cut relations. Jewry is defined as a national minority and will be given
the opportunity to create their own independent cultural and national
life under the protection of the state. Any intervention in the life
of the German nation will from now on be impossible and forbidden. The
laws were received with satisfaction and enthusiasm.
Halle:
The latest developments in the Jewish problem have,
of course, been influenced by the legislation in Nuremberg.... The laws
were received by the population--even in non National Socialist circles
— with understanding. One can generally say that awareness of
this problem, so central to the National Socialist world view, is gradually
growing. A real understanding among people in the so-called better and
educated circles is still missing. It is here that one observes that
the ancient instinct of race totally disappeared. It was partially eliminated
by economic thinking. One believes...that one can avoid a necessary
struggle by making a compromise with the enemy in a certain area.
Munich — police report for August and September
The legislation passed by the Reichstag after the
party rally brought about vivid discussion among the population....
The last law (for the protection of German blood and honor) met with
widespread satisfaction.... Commercial circles expressed concern that
German-hating circles abroad might regard these laws as a reason to
expand the scope of the boycott against German goods....
Source: O.D. Kulka, "Public Opinion in National
Socialist Germany and the Jewish Question”, Zion, Quarterly
for Research in Jewish History, Year XL, Number 3-4, Jerusalem 1975,
pp. 214-17