Final answer:
The Nuremberg Laws, established on September 15, 1935, were the first major German government policy persecuting Jews, revoking their citizenship, and barring them from marrying non-Jews, thereby solidifying their social and political exclusion in Germany (1).
Step-by-step explanation:
The First Major German Government Policy Against Jews
The first major German government policy specifically designed to persecute Jewish people was the Nuremberg Laws, enacted on September 15, 1935. Under these laws, Jewish citizens were stripped of their German citizenship, forbidden from marrying or engaging in sexual relations with persons of 'German or related blood,' and deprived of various civil and political rights. The implementation of these laws institutionalized the systemic discrimination of Jews, paving the way for more severe policies and eventually leading to the Holocaust.
These Nuremberg Laws consisted of two main regulations: the 'Reich Citizenship Law,' which only granted citizenship to those of 'German or kindred blood' and effectively denationalized Jews, and the 'Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor,' which prohibited marriage and extramarital intercourse between Jews and non-Jewish Germans. By defining Jewishness based on the ancestry of grandparents, these laws categorically ostracized Jews from German social and political life. The Nuremberg Laws thus represent the beginning of a legal foundation for Hitler's fervent anti-Semitic policies.
Contrasting with the later abhorrent events such as the Final Solution, introduced by Heinrich Himmler, and the decisions made at the Wannsee Conference for the systematic extermination of the Jewish population, the Nuremberg Laws were an initial step toward these horrific outcomes but were themselves focused on legal and social exclusion rather than outright genocide.