Jim Crow and the Nazis

Did you know…

Nazis studied and were influenced by Jim Crow laws and other racist policies in the United States when developing their own race laws in the 1930s. Here are some key points:

1. Nazi lawyers carefully studied American race laws, including Jim Crow segregation laws, as they crafted the Nuremberg Laws in 1935[1][2].

2. The Nazis saw the United States as a leader in codified racism and race-based lawmaking[1][5]. They admired how America had used laws to maintain white supremacy and racial segregation.

3. A key figure was Heinrich Krieger, a German lawyer who spent 1933-34 studying American race laws at the University of Arkansas. His research and writings on U.S. race laws were influential in Nazi legal circles[6].

4. At a 1934 conference of Nazi lawyers discussing how to implement racist policies, American legal codes based on white supremacy were specifically cited as models[6].

5. The Nazis looked to Jim Crow laws to understand how to legally implement racial segregation[1]. Some Nazi policies were actually less harsh initially than certain Jim Crow laws[1].

6. The Nazis admired how the U.S. had used laws to limit immigration and citizenship rights for non-whites[1][2].

7. While the Nazis had their own history of antisemitism to draw from, they found the American model of legalized racism appealing as they sought to institutionalize their racist ideology[5][6].

8. This history challenges the idea that Nazi race policies were entirely foreign to Western democracies, revealing uncomfortable parallels with American racial practices of the time[5][6].

While the Nazis ultimately took their racist policies to genocidal extremes beyond American laws, the evidence suggests they did study and draw inspiration from Jim Crow and other U.S. race laws, especially in the early years of the Nazi regime, as they were developing their own race-based legal framework.

Nazi Study of Jim Crow Laws:

The Nazi study of Jim Crow laws and their subsequent incorporation into the Nuremberg Laws is a harrowing chapter in history that underlines the global influence of racial oppression and its effects. This history is intrinsically linked to Black trauma today as it reveals how racial hierarchies and systems of discrimination were not isolated occurrences but rather part of a broader transnational pattern of white supremacy.

The Nazis’ examination of Jim Crow laws in the United States began in the early 1930s as they sought legal frameworks to enforce their ideas of Aryan racial superiority. They looked to the U.S., where racism was institutionalized in ways that could serve as a blueprint for their own racial policies. Some key points about this historical process include:

Legal Inspiration for Exclusion and Segregation:

The Nazis were especially interested in the U.S. laws that enforced segregation and stripped non-white people of their civil rights. They found Jim Crow’s codified racial segregation (e.g., restrictions on interracial marriage, voting disenfranchisement, educational segregation, and employment discrimination) to be a practical model.
As historian James Q. Whitman illustrates in his book, Hitler’s American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law, Nazi legal theorists examined laws such as the “one-drop rule,” which defined race through blood quantum, and other aspects of the U.S. racial caste system. They saw parallels between their desire for Aryan purity and the American drive to maintain white racial purity.

Development of the Nuremberg Laws:

In 1935, the Nazis implemented the Nuremberg Laws, which formally codified anti-Semitic policies in Germany. These laws mirrored aspects of Jim Crow in the United States, particularly those relating to the prohibition of marriage and sexual relations between Jews and non-Jewish Germans (paralleling U.S. anti-miscegenation laws).
Nazi legal scholars expressed admiration for America’s strict laws on racial segregation, although they debated just how far to take these principles. Interestingly, some Nazis felt that certain aspects of U.S. racial laws were too harsh, demonstrating the extreme nature of American racial policy at that time.

Aryanization and Racial Hierarchies:

The Nazis also studied the U.S. policy of Native American displacement and African enslavement, viewing these as successful models of racial subjugation. The U.S. system of racial hierarchy provided a basis for the Nazis to conceptualize their own genocidal policies, particularly against Jews, Romani people, and other marginalized groups.

Relation to Black Trauma Today:

Cover of "Le Petit Journal", 7 October, 1906. Depicting the race riots in Atlanta, Georgia. "The Lynchings in the United States: The Massacre of Negroes in Atlanta."

The Nazi use of Jim Crow laws has deep implications for the current understanding of Black trauma for several reasons:

Global Legitimization of Racial Hierarchies:

The Nazi adoption of American racial practices demonstrates how white supremacist ideologies and legal structures became a shared global template for oppression. This linkage reinforces the pervasive nature of systemic racism and racial trauma experienced by Black individuals in the diaspora.
For Black communities, this history amplifies the trauma by showing that discriminatory laws and practices were not just products of local or national prejudice but part of a transnational white supremacist framework that has oppressed and devalued Black lives worldwide.

Interconnected Legacies of Racism:

The fact that U.S. Jim Crow laws influenced Nazi policies underscores that the legacies of racism are not confined to one country. This interconnectedness can deepen the collective trauma of the Black community, as it reflects an enduring and widespread system of dehumanization.
This understanding shapes the contemporary struggle for racial justice, highlighting the need to address local or national systems of oppression and the global structures that sustain them.

Ongoing Systemic Racism:

The methods and ideologies that the Nazis borrowed from American Jim Crow policies continue to inform how systemic racism operates today. For example, modern-day police brutality, mass incarceration, and economic disparities in the U.S. echo the historical laws and practices that informed both Jim Crow and the Nuremberg Laws.
Black trauma today is compounded by the realization that the same ideologies used to justify segregation and apartheid-like conditions in the U.S. were used to justify genocidal policies elsewhere. This historical continuity suggests that the struggle for Black liberation must also contend with the global underpinnings of white supremacy.

Psychological Impacts of Recognition:

For many in the Black community, recognizing this historical connection can evoke feelings of grief, anger, and a sense of betrayal. It forces an acknowledgment that the mechanisms of Black oppression were deliberately crafted and even inspired genocidal regimes elsewhere.
This recognition can be both a source of deep-seated trauma and a catalyst for empowerment. It emphasizes the resilience required to survive and resist a global system that has, for centuries, sought to dehumanize and exploit Black people.

Pathways Toward Healing:

In light of this history, healing Black trauma requires a multifaceted approach:

Historical Education: Understanding Jim Crow laws’ global reach and influence on other regimes can be empowering. As Dr. Joy DeGruy’s work on Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome suggests, reclaiming history and confronting painful truths is an essential step toward addressing generational trauma.
Restorative Justice: Recognizing the transnational impact of racism calls for reparative measures that address not just the aftermath of Jim Crow in the U.S. but also the ways such ideologies were exported globally.
Community and Cultural Solidarity: Creating spaces where the Black community can process and heal from this interconnected history, supported by culturally affirming practices and collective care, is crucial. Scholars like Resmaa Menakem advocate for somatic healing methods that attend to the body’s trauma response to centuries of racial violence.

By confronting this shared history of racial laws and their global influence, Black communities can continue to reclaim narratives, heal from collective trauma, and work toward systemic change that dismantles the ideologies underpinning racism today.

Sources:

[1] Nazis Studied US Eugenics and Jim Crow Laws As Model for Their … https://www.businessinsider.com/nazis-studied-us-eugenics-jim-crow-laws-model-policies-2022-9

[2] Why the Nazis Loved America – Time https://time.com/4703586/nazis-america-race-law/

[3] The racism of the Jim Crow South and Nazi Germany are compared … https://sfi.usc.edu/news/2018/06/22176-racism-jim-crow-south-and-nazi-germany-are-compared-and-analyzed-seminar-co-led

[4] Long Read Review: Hitler’s American Model: The United States and … https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2017/08/25/long-read-review-hitlers-american-model-the-united-states-and-the-making-of-nazi-race-law-by-james-q-whitman/

[5] How the Nazis Used Jim Crow Laws as the Model for Their Race Laws https://billmoyers.com/story/hitler-america-nazi-race-law/

[6] What America Taught the Nazis in the 1930s – The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/11/what-america-taught-the-nazis/540630/

[7] How the Nazis Were Inspired by Jim Crow : r/history – Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/history/comments/1dcm6x2/how_the_nazis_were_inspired_by_jim_crow/

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