Marriage certificate from 1943

Two people fall in love and get married. In this day and age, that seems like the simplest thing in the world. But under National Socialism, it was not just the couple who decided. According to the “Law for the Protection of the Hereditary Health of the German People” of 1935, those wishing to marry needed a certificate of fitness to marry, which had to be issued by a doctor. It stipulated various reasons which were considered “obstacles to marriage”. Under the guise of health, a self-determined life was made impossible for politically undesirable people.

As with the breeding of animals, the aim was to form “suitable” pairs and produce as many offspring as possible. The SS even explicitly based its “selection” of soldiers on a manual for horse breeding, among other things. But human races do not exist. They were invented to stabilize political and social conditions and provided a pretext for suppressing undesirable groups.

Scientific methods were used to prove the desired hierarchy of people, in which white researchers naturally saw themselves at the top. Under National Socialism, Jews, Roma and Sinti and others were defined as an inferior race and excluded from marriage. However, this also applied to people who were labeled “asocial”, alcoholics, had hereditary diseases or people with disabilities.

In the case of Lance Corporal Rühmann, the army doctor was responsible for certifying his suitability for marriage in 1943. He was lucky. Like many other soldiers, Rühmann wanted to marry his partner as quickly as possible and not wait until the end of the war. That way, the wife was financially secure in the event of her husband’s death during the war. However, marriage also fostered the confidence that the spouses would remain faithful during the man’s long absence from home.

Object of the month

(short) stories from the depot

Unfortunately, many objects cannot currently be shown in the exhibition for conservation reasons. Here you will find unusual objects and exciting stories of special pieces from the depot