What would happen if my family and I were transported back in time to Nazi Germany?

[Johan887]

I have a European father, and my mother is traditionally English (Scott), with an unknown amount of Ashkenazi ancestry (possibly my grandfather's father or grandad). People (often Jews - at one point a Rabbi) always guess me, my mother and my oldest nephew are Ashkenazi, based off of our faces. I know 'looking Jewish' was not a good thing (for Jews) in the Nazi era, but I find that my family history on my mother's side is (oddly enough) impossible to trace, and my family hid their roots. Did the Nazis need documents to prove if someone could be sent to the camps? Or was suspicion all that it took for the Nazis to send people away? My mother's surname is anglicized Yiddish but it can also have other origins also (did the Nazis persecute based on surnames, etc?)

[Johan887]

Really I'm just curious, since my family has been in Scotland for 150-200 years or more, I don't have a 'feel' for the persecution

[Petalpusher]

If the origin was unclear, they were using anthropometry and physical anthropology. Exactly like around here... It's an interesting subject, i ve always wonder what were the exact limits, also maybe not as much "intermediate" and mixed people at that time (aready settled in the country i mean)

[Johan887]

Interesting
You mean skull measurements, etc? My nephews all have flat occiputs and are brachycephalic

[finþaų]

Depends on whether you were to support the NSDAP or not. They were quite the pragmatic bunch.


Interesting
You mean skull measurements, etc? My nephews all have flat occiputs and are brachycephalic
All that stuff would be totally irrelevant. "Aryan" identity was based on genealogy, not anthropometric data.

[Longbowman]

Depends on whether you were to support the NSDAP or not. They were quite the pragmatic bunch.

If he were a full Jew he wouldn't have had a choice.

As he's 1/8 or 1/16 they wouldn't have given a shit.

[Petalpusher]

Interesting
You mean skull measurements, etc? My nephews all have flat occiputs and are brachycephalic

Yup it was appeared as a dumbed down version of Coon's anthro, still i would like to know more also about it, if some around here is into the subject.. (never found very precise things on the web)
.And yes of course they were pragmatic and deported all sorts of people, not only by anthro standards.

[finþaų]

If he were a full Jew he wouldn't have had a choice.

As he's 1/8 or 1/16 they wouldn't have given a shit.

There were plenty of "full Jews" in the Wehrmacht.

[Longbowman]

There were plenty of "full Jews" in the Wehrmacht.

Plenty more in Auschwitz.

Can you give me any examples of full Jews in the Wehrmacht?

[Petros Houhoulis]

I have a European father, and my mother is traditionally English (Scott), with an unknown amount of Ashkenazi ancestry (possibly my grandfather's father or grandad). People (often Jews - at one point a Rabbi) always guess me, my mother and my oldest nephew are Ashkenazi, based off of our faces. I know 'looking Jewish' was not a good thing (for Jews) in the Nazi era, but I find that my family history on my mother's side is (oddly enough) impossible to trace, and my family hid their roots. Did the Nazis need documents to prove if someone could be sent to the camps? Or was suspicion all that it took for the Nazis to send people away? My mother's surname is anglicized Yiddish but it can also have other origins also (did the Nazis persecute based on surnames, etc?)

First grade soap???

[Johan887]

To the point, I guess.
lol
Wasn't 'nazi soap' a myth anyways?

[Longbowman]

To the point, I guess.
lol
Wasn't 'nazi soap' a myth anyways?

Yes.

[Stimpy]

As long as you didn't ''look Jewish'' and didn't identify as a Jew or with it's culture/religion in any way, you probably wouldn't be persecuted. There were many known half Jews in relatively high positions in the military/society.

[Skjaldemjøden]

You could take a DNA test to determine who this Ashkenazi ancestor was (23andme has a lab in the UK). Regarding your question- it's impossible to tell. You would probably be frowned upon for having both a Jewish name and stereotypically Jewish looks, but I don't think you'd face a lot of persecution. As has already been mentioned, there were indeed quarter-Jews in the Wehrmacht, and for a time even half-Jews (see for example Werner Goldberg). On the other hand, having one Jewish great-grandmother was enough to get Fritz Hippler dismissed from the SS (see German Wikipedia). Also, depending on who precisely your Jewish ancestor was - your mother or grandfather may not have been exempt from racial persecution even if you were. It would have been easy for the authorities to lock you up as a Jew-sympathizer, political criminal or somesuch, if, say, you tried to help them.

[Johan887]

Is 23andme expensive? I've been curious about it

[Longbowman]

Is 23andme expensive? I've been curious about it

£125 in the UK. Totally worth it, I recommend it.

[Smeagol]

At the Wannsee Conference the Nazis decided that people with 1/4 or less Jewish blood were to be treated like regular Germans.

[Mortimer]

you would have been a good nazi (many jews were)

[Johan887]

Assuming we didn't become Nazis