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VERY RARE 1941 RFSS HIMMLER DIRECTIVE REGARDING THE PLACEMENT OF THE RED LETTER J IN GERMAN PASSPORTS OF JEWS

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This is an incredibly rare original Confidential Directive dated 7 July 1941 that originated at the office of Der Reichsführer-SS und Chef der deutschen Polizei im Reichsministerium des Innern (Heinrich Himmler, Head of the Nazi Police) at the Ministry of the Interior on Prinz Albrechtstraße in Berlin. It has very specific official information about the location of the red letter J in German passports issued to Jews.

The first page (above) shows this Nazi Police Directive was sent to government and police officials all over Nazi Germany and in German occupied countries (for example, the heads of the Sicherheitspolizei and SD in The Hague, Holland and Oslo, Norway are listed).

The Confidential Directive pertains to the important Verordnung über Reisepässe von Juden, the “Ordinance for Passports of Jews”. The original Verordnung regarding passports for Jews by Reichsführer-SS Himmler was dated 5 October 1938 and this is additional information regarding the exact spot where the red J had to be applied on German passports. Going forward, the red J also had to be applied to the cover of a passport, in addition to being stamped on page one.

The Confidential Directive from Himmler’s office ends by stating that the high-ranking Nazi recipients of this information should share it only with authorities and with offices that were officially allowed to issue German passports.

According to the annotated blue stamp on page 1 (left), this example was received at the office of the Reichsstatthalter (the highest Nazi government authority in Vienna, Baldur von Schirach) on Ballhausplatz 2 in Vienna on 12 July 1941.

The paragraphs carefully explain the size of the J (3 cm), the color (red), the dating system to be applied to the stamped J, and where they letter J has to be added in existing passports. The directive also applied to passports for Jews from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia but those Jews did not have to add the obligatory name Israel (for men) and Sara (for women) to their passports as was the official law in Germany since 17 July 1938.

The Verordnung über Reisepässe von Juden vom 5. Oktober 1938 (RGBl. 1, S. 1342) made it obligatory for Jews to have the red Judenstempel in their passport, making it easier for border control officials to identify Jews. This law was as a result of requests by Swiss authorities who were inundated by Jewish refugees after the reunification of Austria with Nazi Germany in the spring of 1938. Simply put, the Verordnung über Reisepässe von Juden stated that passports of Jews became invalid unless they reported to passport offices within two weeks to add the mandatory red J.

This is the solitary example of this very rare 100% original Nazi police Directive and it is in very nice original condition, with punch holes and the original nearly 84 year old staple! It was rescued years ago from the city archives of Vienna. See picture below for additional provenance.

Above the 31 mm round eagle and swastika stamp of Der Reichsführer-SS und Chef der deutschen Polizei im Reichsministerium des Innern it says Im Auftrag gez. Kröning which means the directive was sent out by proxy by a man named Kröning. It was certified and signed by a Chancellery employee named Frahm.