WW11 GERMAN FEMALE IDENTIFICATION CARD 1943 KENNKARTE

This is an original identification card from the German Empire, Nazi Germany. 

Identification card for a 19 year old woman, signed and dated, April 2, 1943.

Name of woman, unlegible, born, August 4, 1923.

HISTORY OF GERMAN ID CARDS “Kennkarte” (identification card)

National Identification cards were important in the Third Reich era

When Adolf Hitler and the “Nationalsozialistische Deutche Arbeiterpartei” came to power in 1933, they sought total control over all German citizens. They also realized Germans in the new Reich needed to be able to identify themselves as citizens in a country which hosted numerous foreigners from neighboring nations who routinely travelled across German territory. Though many members of the various organizations of the NSDAP were required to possess membership books and other forms of IDs, a basic national identification card was needed for all members of the Reich’s national community.

On July 22, 1938, a new country-wide “Kennkarte” (identification card) was introduced and issued to all Germans over the age of 18 (later 15) years old. These were to be carried at all times outside of the home, and produced, if asked for, by Reich’s officials in order to insure the owner’s identity.

To be issued this new mandatory item, German citizens were instructed to go to their local police precinct and produce the necessary identification documents such as their birth certificate. They were then to answer detailed questions about themselves, and pay a small one-mark fee.

The initial document introduced, made for utility rather than appearance, was 15cm x 11cm and consisted of a single sheet of light gray linen oilcloth folded in half to create four pages. The plain front cover contained a black eagle with outstretched wings, perched on a wreath and canted swastika. Above the eagle’s head was a heading of “Deutsches Reich” in German script, and at the page base was the word, “Kennkarte”.

Inside, the first page contained a series of black outlined boxes to be filled in with the individual’s “Kennort”(residential district), “Kennummer” (registration card number), “Gultig bis” (Good until - period of validity which lasted 5 years from issuance), “Name” (Last name), “Vornamen” (first name), “Geburstag” (date of birth), “Geburtsort” (place of birth), “Beruf” (profession), “Unveranderliche Kennzeichen” (permanent distinguishing features), “Veranderliche Kennzeichen” (non-permanent distinguishing features) and “Bemerkungen” (comments).

The second inner page contained a place for the owner’s riveted photograph with two authenticated stampings on each corner, and fingerprints of their right and left index fingers on the upper right side. Centered below the photo was a space for the owner’s signature, followed by the date, place and office of issuance, the signature of an authenticating official and a place for the paid police administration stamp.

The back page was blank with the exception of the form number (A101, (10-38) printed in small letters at the bottom. Police and other officials would sometimes use this area for additional information, since as prior arrests of the persons.

The second rendition of the Kennkarte was produced later in the war as finer paper supplies dwindled and unaltered identification became more crucial. The linen oilcloth was replaced with a poor-quality gray-hued paper cover containing inside pages with more elaborate backgrounds of subdued green/red patterns to deter forgers. The cover of the later ID Featured the same eagle, wreath and swastika, but with the larger “block” lettered “DEUTSCHES REICH” printed in two lines above, and “KENNKARTE” below.

The outside of the cover featured a triple-lined border encasing the text. The first inner page was blank, while the facing page was a duplicate of the cover. The next page contained the person’s personal information in the same format as on the first card edition, with the exception that a document serial number (not the same as the owner’s registration number) was printed at the bottom. The following page contained the owner’s photo, fingerprints and authentication stamps and signatures as on the first issuance. The subsequent two pages were blank, as was the back cover, with the exception of two lines of small print at the bottom: the form number “A 212 (6.43)” and the manufacturer, “Reichsdruckerei, Berlin”. These last pages, as was the rear cover on the first ID’s, could again be used for notations by German police or other officials to record notes about the individual carrier.

Since Jewish citizens were to be alienated from the acceptable “Aryans” within the Third Reich, people of Jewish decent had their Kennkarten marked in several ways to single them. Early Jewish citizens were issued the standard Kennkarte, but with the addition of a large black ink stylized “J” stamped across the information page. Later editions of Jewish cards featured a large black ink printed “J” on the cover in place of the standard eagle, wreath and swastika. Inside, the information page contained the same stylized “J” in a reddish-brown ink printed across the personal section.

In addition to the actual form markings, in accordance with the Jewish name law of 1938, people with a “non-Jewish” sounding name were required to add “Sara” (if female) or Israel” if male as their middle names.

With the expansion of the Reich into neighboring countries came the necessity of marking Kennkarten to signify the “Germanness” (a term used by the NSDAP to signify a person’s level of racial acceptance) of the holders and often single them out for treatment as less than first-class citizens (ironically in the Utopian “classless” society). People of the near Eastern territories were required to bring in their pre-war identifications or birth certificates, and swear an oath that they were of “Aryan” descent. Standard Kennkarte were then issued to them with a red stripe across the cover to designate Polish residents, and a green stripe to those from the former Czechoslovakia.

Members of the Nazi General Government were issued their own Kennkarte to be carried outside of their homes. This six-page plain document was produced by double folding a rough 30 X 14cm paper stock colored gray for Polish people, yellow for Jews and Gypsies (Roma), and blue for Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Georgians, and “Goralenvolk” (Goral-highlander people from the region south of Poland). The cover featured “GENERALGOUVERNEMENT” in black block letters followed by the same text in Slavic script. The upper right contained a large outlined square box in which was printed a “U” for Ukrainians, a “J” for Jews, an “R” for Russians, “W” for Belarusians, “K” for Georgians, “Z” for Roma, and “G” for Goralenvolk. The second (first interior) page contained personal information of the carrier, but in slightly more detail (including religion, ethnicity) than that of the standard German Kennkarte. The center page contained the carrier’s photo and fingerprints, signature and authorization stamps. The fourth page detailed residence of the holder while the fifth page, notes for officials. The last (back) page listed the rules in multiple languages for the owner’s responsibility of carrying the document and presenting it to authorities upon request.

With the final surrender of the German military and dissolution of the Nazi government in 1945, Kennkarten continued to be carried for some time later as a way to verify the owner’s identity. It was common practice to de-Nazify them by removing or blacking out the Nazi eagles and swastikas. Eventually, new governments issued replacement identification documents in the postwar countries that had made up the territories of Hitler’s former Third Reich.