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There were so many new laws, ordnances, and decrees in expanding Großdeutschland in 1939 that the Reichsgesetzblatt for that year had to be printed in two books. The hardbound book offered for sale on this USMBOOKS web page is a rare original example of Reichsgesetzblatt Teil 1 containing laws and by-laws, amendments to existing laws, regulations and ordinances, Hitler decrees, treaties, budgets, etc. for the first part for the year 1939. The huge 8-1/2 x 11-5/8 inch 1100+ page, 6 pound (!) hardbound book has an embossed gold eagle and swastika on the red cover, and gold blocking on the black spine.

The Reichsgesetzblatt was the official illustrated publication containing announcements of new laws and amendments of existing laws in Adolf Hitler’s National Socialist Germany, as published by the Reichsministerium des Innern (Interior Ministry) and printed by the Reichsverlagsamt in Berlin. The huge annual or semi-annual publications contained laws and by-laws, ordinances, Hitler decrees, treaties, budgets, amendments to existing laws, and so on. The minutia in these books is incredible! During the Third Reich the Reichsgesetzblatt was published in two editions, Teil 1 and Teil 2, with Part 2 containing international agreements, traffic laws (railroad, shipping), budgets, parliamentary matters, financial matters of the Reichsbank, and Part 1 all other matters. The last edition of the Reichsgesetzblatt was published in early April 1945. The Reichsgesetzblatt is invaluable to anyone involved in research regarding the Third Reich in general, Third Reich law, and the process by which proposed laws became law in Nazi Germany and territories incorporated or occupied by German Armed Forces.

Austria and the Sudetenland had been added to Nazi Germany in 1938 so German law continued to be changed so it could be applied to these territories, and every word word of the changes was published in the Reichsgesetzblatt. There were new regulations and laws for the timber and mining industry, labor, doctors, dentists and pharmacists, long distance phone calls, the use of the National Emblem, political parties, protection of national monuments, criminal law for civilians and military personnel, weapon ownership, citizenship, taxation, housing for laborers, anesthesia, confiscation of land for military purposes, customs formalities, traffic, the economic Vierjahresplan, nature and animal protection, social services, pensions for World War I veterans and wounded soldiers, the wearing of the Wound Badge, religious education of minors, prevention of genetic diseases, import and export duties, milk, meat and egg production, national holidays, population registration, deportation of criminals, amendments to rental agreements with Jews, foreign entertainment, and so on.

On 16 March 1939, the provinces of Bohemia and Moravia in the former country of Czechoslovakia were officially incorporated into the Greater German Reich, followed by Memelland on 23 March 1939. In these law books this is referred to as “being under the protection of the German Armed Forces”. German law was applied to these historic Germanic provinces right away and entries about currency, import and export, penal code, healthcare, traffic, insurance and taxes start to show up in this Reichsgesetzblatt 1939 Teil 1 in late March, including representation in German Parliament!

More restrictions for Jews were officially introduced as well. Jewish cultural clubs were no longer legal, the registration of Jewish assets and expansion of the use of Jewish assets continued, an extension of the deadline that Jews had to hand-in jewelry and other items made of precious metals and precious stones including pearls, and amendments to rental agreements with Jews were made.

price regulation for cooking spices, household items and room rental in private homes, animal protection and animal breeding, the importation and use of explosives, changes in military service and career opportunities for Wehrmacht Officers, parliamentary elections, Hitler Youth service and HJ Homes, confiscation of assets of enemies of the state in the Saarland, Luftwaffe engineer salaries, flags and signs on ships, beer tax, foreign debt, insurance for midwives, military maneuvers, TeNo, street, square and bridge names, tobacco taxation, adoption, subsidized housing for large families, Nazi Party representation, potato bug control, changes to who qualified for the Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 1. Oktober 1938 (the 1 October 1938 Commemorative Medal), tourism and trade with Spain, property owned by the Russian-Orthodox Church in Germany, the sale of nicotine-free tobacco, civilian air protection and black-out, the sale of complete and partial animal corpses, academic and nobility titles, the foundation of the Reichspropaganda Office in the city of Reichenberg, and even new and expanded guidelines for detectives and the manufacture of fireproof safes!

Pages 28 and 29 have corrections and there are color and black & white illustrations of enamel signs, tax forms and tax tables, medal application forms, a tax voucher, and the initial design of the Zollgrenzschutz-Ehrenzeichen or Border protection Honor Medal.

This huge 82 year old Nazi law book has some annotations in pencil from a previous owner, who also pasted end papers together so the silver swastika motif inside the covers is no longer visible. The binding is tight and Reichsgesetzblatt 1939 Teil 1 has no unpleasant odor. The gold of the swastika on the spine was scraped off.

This 2-1/4 inch thick edition of the Reichsgesetzblatt 1939 Teil 1 has new ordinances and laws about or for, among other things:

Have a look at other examples of the Reichsgesetzblatt for sale on USMBOOKS.com
1936	1937	1938	1940	1942	1943
We are happy to combine shipping of multiple purchases!

There are official decrees by Adolf Hitler about official building projects in cities like Bayreuth, Berlin, Breslau, Cologne, Dresden, Düsseldorf, KdF-Stadt Fallersleben, Graz, Hamburg, Linz, Weimar, Munich and Berlin, new military service medals, clemency, the introduction of the Medaille zur Erinnerung an die Heimkehr des Memellandes (the return of the Memel Commemorative Medal), the Nationalsozialistischer Reichsbund für Leibesübungen (NSRL or National Socialist Gymnastics Association), etc.