Nazi doctrine embodied in the Rassengesetze (Nuremberg racial law) of 1935 defined "Aryan" as a person whose paternal and maternal grandparents belonged to the "Aryan" race. Members of the elite Nazi SS corps had to document their "Aryan" ancestry to the period before Germany emancipated Jews in 1850. In pursuit of this policy, Germans searched church records and archives for evidence to prove their racially pure heritage.

Genealogist Hans Stöppler at Cologne received this October 14, 1936, cover that contained documents and research materials from the Church Community at Wolfsburg.

Wolfsburg is a city built by the Nazis adjacent to historic Fallersleben in Lower Saxony, a residential community for Volkswagen factory workers. The cancel commemorates Fallersleben as the home of August Heinrich Hoffman von Fallersleben, who wrote the lyrics of Germany's national anthem Das Lied der Deutschen in 1941. His opening line "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles" [Germany, Germany above all"] became notorious as an expression of Nazi triumphalism, although its original context had a liberal connotation. next >>