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The sloganNur für Deutsche (English: "Only forGermans") was aGerman ethnocentric slogan indicating that certain establishments, transportation and other facilities such aspark benches,bars andrestaurants were reserved exclusively for Germans. It was used duringWorld War II in many German-occupied countries, especiallyPoland from 1939 until the defeat of Germany in 1945. Signs bearing the slogan were posted at entrances to parks, cafes, cinemas, theaters and other facilities. They were normally the best such facilities to show the indigenous population the alleged "superiority" of the Germans.
InGerman-occupied Poland,racial segregation was nearly complete by 1940. In streetcars and trains, the first car was usually reserved for German administrative and military personnel, Nazi party members, and German civilians. Other nationalities were to use the remaining cars. Jews were refused any such usage. The segregation was repeated in other occupied countries, such as parts of theSoviet Union for example. It was another way to intimidate local people, in addition to imposition of legal constraints,curfews and unfairexchange rates. Jews were discriminated against in all occupied countries, as well as Germany itself, and some towns boasted of theirjudenfrei status. The constraints on Jews were the most severe of all, and they were refused ownership ofcars,bicycles,radios and could go shopping only at limited times for example.[citation needed] They were forbidden to use park benches and thenpublic parks at all, notices included"Juden verboten" were commonplace across Germany. Such restrictions were applied gradually in Germany from 1933 on, but much more rapidly following invasion of a country. Thus Austrian Jews suffered extreme restraints faster after theAnschluss in 1938, as did Poland from 1939 onwards after military conquest. The German attitude was based on its racial philosophy of being the "master race", to whom all other "races" were inferior, and thus to be exploited and enslaved.[citation needed]
Similar signage was used inSouth Africa duringapartheid and in theUnited States duringJim Crow, where bus travel for example was racially segregated. Discriminating signage was also used informally in the UK, notably in signs inbed and breakfast accommodation barring Irish and blacks. Such signs are now illegal.[citation needed]
InPolish partisan parlance, toxic or otherwise undrinkablemoonshine was jocularly called "nur für Deutsche".Partisans were also fond of painting the words "nur für Deutsche" on graveyard fences or street lampposts (a reference tohanging).[1]
Media related toNur für Deutsche at Wikimedia Commons.svg)
