Wednesday, October 6, 1938 

Aryan commited "Rassenschande" 
Due to a particularly serious and grave offence against the Blood Protection Law, the 28 year old August Landmesser was called to account before the Hamburger Großen Strafkammer (Grand Criminal Court) this afternoon. For years, Landmesser had been having an affair with a Jewish girl with whom he had fathered two children. Because the relationship was not even ended after the promulgation of the Nuremberg Laws, Landmesser was arrested in the summer of 1937 but acquitted after ten months detention, in May 1938, on the grounds of subjectivity. On this occasion he was strongly warned against his relationship to the Jewess and was clearly told that in the event of a repetition of the crime he could expect a sentence of several years imprisonment. Nevertheless, Landmesser soon resumed his relationship with the woman. 

The accused, August Landmesser, blamed his relapse on the fact that he was primarily concerned about his children whom he feared to lose if he broke off the relationship completely. The public procecutor gave a stern warning that "Rassenschande" by a true-blooded German male was to be regarded as a breach of trust with his "Volksgemeinschaft" (racial community). In this case, despite a number of extenuating circumstances, a long jail sentence was the only option. He moved for three and a half years imprisonment. 

The verdict was two and a half years penal servitude for "Rassen- schande". 

In passing sentence, the Court maintained that if the purity of the German race is to be successfully maintained, then such violations of the Race Protection Law (Rassenschutzgesetze) must be severely punished; that applies to Aryans as much as Jews. However, in this case the Court did not totally ignore the human aspect of the case. The Court was concerned not so much with the relationship of the accused with the woman involved, who is hardly a very worthy character, but rather his relationship with his children, for which the Court has every sympathy. However, the situation was aggravated by the defendant resuming the forbidden relationship and thus acknowledging neither restraint nor repentance. This was also the reason for the Court's decision to impose a sentence of penal servitude. Dr. Sch.

 

 

August pflegte den Kontakt zu Rudolfs Eltern in Hamburg-Blankenese. Sie haben diesen Zeitungsausschnitt über seine Verurteilung im Jahre 1938 aufgehoben. August kept up the contact with Rudolf's parents in Hamburg-Blankenese. They saved this newspaper cutting with the 1938 verdict.