‘Mixed Marriage’ – Admission and Readmission – Report to the Jewish Community of Berlin

Abstract

After the end of the war, the Jewish Community of Berlin, like other Jewish communities in Germany, discussed the problem of mixed marriages extensively. I want to point out that according to Jewish law and to Jewish perspectives of all religious directions, that is to say, of orthodox, conservative, and liberal circles, no mixed-marriage problem exists, and in fact, it cannot exist either. The term ‘mixed marriage’ refers to the marriage of a Jewish man to a non-Jewish woman or a Jewish woman to a non-Jewish man, following civil laws and the regulations of the country in which the ceremony has been performed. It is well-known, however, that the laws of the countries do not concern themselves — as is to be expected and to be hoped — with the religious affiliation of two persons applying to be regarded as a married couple under state law. Therefore, then, there can be no so-called mixed marriages from the perspective of state law, since, as already noted, civil law does not take the religious affiliation of the married couple into account. Of course, the perspective of National Socialist law, which is no longer applied and which we have always rejected in any event, is exempt from these findings of the facts.