Why was being Aryan incompatible with being Jewish to the Nazis?

by throwawayjzux

I don't really get Nazi philosophy at all. If they judged Aryan-ness by appearance, why did Jews who had blue eyes and blonde hair not count? Two of my friends are Jewish and look Scandi and I'm ethnically Jewish and have blue eyes. If it was all about the blood and the heritage, why couldn't a Jewish person also be Aryan?

Did any Nazis admit to being inconsistent?

callanquinn

Whilst the ideal Aryan was blond haired and blued eyed, looks alone did not make you Aryan in the eyes of the Nazi government. Jewishness was defined not only by appearance, but on your heritage.

The Nuremberg laws implemented 1935 made only those with German blood German citizens. This means you had to able prove that you had no Jewish blood in the family up until a certain point. Failure to do this made you Jewish (with certain exceptions, for example with those in mixed marriages where the individual does not identify as Jewish, or veterans of the First World War. These were narrowed down heavily at the Wansee Conference in 1942), and regardless of your appearance you could expect to be face the reality of living as a Jew in Nazi Germany. The scrutiny became even harder for Germans trying to apply for the SS; you had to be able to trace you lineage back hundreds of years.

(Adrian Weale: Army of Evil)