In September of 1935, the racial laws of Nuremberg came out. Essentially, these laws were mean to formalize the actions that had been taken against Jews living in Germany up to that year. Basically lip service, the Nazis pointed to the Nuremberg laws as evidence that Jews were being deprived of their rights in accordance with Nazi Party legislation. These laws did not actually make a definite division of who was a Jew in the legal sense. Because of this, an additional measure was added in November 1935 which made the definition of Jew, Aryan and Mischlinge.

             Jews: People with at least three full Jewish grandparents.

             Mischlinge of the first degree: basically a "half-Jew", a person with two Jewish grandparents who did not practice Judaism and was not married to a Jew.

             Mischlinge of the second degree: a "quarter-Jew"; a person who had one Jewish grandparent or else, an Aryan married to a Jew. .

             2. Mischlinge were not allowed to be members of the Nazi party. They could also not participate in party organizations like the SS. Mischlinge could be drafted into the German Army but they were prohibited from becoming officers, or working in the civil service or in certain professions. The issue of managing these people was apparently very important to Hitler. It was his plan to attempt to assimilate all the second degree Mischlinge as Aryans. There was also some thought that all Mischlinge, regardless of degree should be sterilized, but this did not happen since the Nazis were uncertain how Aryan Germans would respond to this action against these people. .

             3. The Wermacht was the military organization, and is felt to be the one German group that was never actually controlled by Hitler. Hitler found himself in a difficult situation in that he was required to use commanders who may not have been Nazis but could be counted on to have the loyalty of the troops they lead. The Army was strongly associated with the management of the Jews under their control, although after the war was over the Army tried to say that the SS had mostly carried out the Holocaust.