" The Franks, it seemed, had emigrated just in time. The Reich’s Law of Citizenship of September 15, 1935, had declared Germany’s Jews aliens in their own country. They were not even second-class citizens; they were last-class citizens, unable to vote. That same day the Nuremberg Laws were promulgated to “protect German blood” from all “alien blood.” In the interest of “preserving the purity of the German nation,” the Nuremburg Laws spelled out in detail the definitions of “Aryan and Jewish, half and quarter Jewish, related to Jews by marriage, and racially pure.”

To discriminate against Jews, to persecute them, was thus legally sanctioned. Germans were now free to indulge their bigotry and hatred knowing they were in compliance with the law, a reassuring feeling for people with a strong traditional respect for governmental authority. "

― , Anne Frank: The Biography