Legislation of the Ritual Slaughtering in Germany since 1933.

The article surveys the development of legislation to the slaughtering of w arm-blooded animals in Germany since 1933. It examines the ritual slaughter ing of the Jews (Schechita) on the one hand, and of the Moslems (Dabh) on t he other hand. While 1933 the legislation was coined by the political situa tion, after 1949, legal setting and decisions reflected the changing sensib ility to animals' protection. Before 1945, Schechita was the matter of lega l dispute, more recently, the discussion has centred on the ritual slaughte ring of the Moslems, with different arguments. The "Law on the Slaughtering of Animals" of 21-04-33 was part and parcel of the Third Reich's policy ag ainst Jews implicating a nation wide practical inhibition of Schechita by d ecreeing a general obligation of stunning before slaughtering. In 1945, the inhibition of Schechita became invalid after the occupation of the Reich b y the Allied Forces. For the first time, the "First Amendment to the Animal Protection Law" of 1986 permitted ritual slaughtering by the way of except ion as long as it was covered by the religious obligations. In 1995 the Fed eral Administrative Court judged that an inhibition of the ritual slaughter ing by Moslems could be possible, because there are no religious obligation s for Moslems. Nowadays, the ritual slaughtering of the Moslems is, de fact o, forbidden, Schechita is performed in some cities for the needs of the re sidential Jewish population.