(lit., "hybrids"), part Jews. The racial Nuremberg Laws of September 1935 did not actually define who was legally to be considered a Jew. Thus, an additional decree was made in November 1935 which provided detailed definitions of Jew, Aryan, and Mischling.
Jews were defined as people with at least three full Jewish grandparents. A Mischling of the first degree, or half-Jew, was a person with two Jewish grandparents; who did not belong to the Jewish religion; or who was not married to a Jew as of September 15, 1935. A Mischling of the second degree, or quarter-Jew, was someone with one Jewish grandparent; or an Aryan married to a Jew. In 1939, 72,000 first degree Mischlinge and 39,000 second degree Mischlinge were still living in Germany.
The Mischlinge issue was very important to Adolf Hitler. The policy in Germany was to assimilate second degree Mischlinge into the Aryan nation, while first degree Mischlinge were to be considered like Jews. In other countries, policies differed. Over the winter of 1941--1942, some Nazis proposed that all Mischlinge of the first degree be sterilized; however, nothing ever came of this because the Nazis feared the reactions of the many Germans related to the Mischlinge.
