Unions between Jews and non-Jews went against the principles of National Socialist racial ideology. The Nazi government attempted to break up so-called mixed marriages (Mischehen) by introducing measures to persecute the spouses concerned. These measures were introduced in stages and there was significant regional differentiation. However, from 1939 Jews in ‘mixed marriages’ were excluded from certain discriminatory provisions (for example compulsory residence in ‘Jew houses’ (Judenhäuser) and the wearing of the yellow star (Judenstern)), provided that their children did not receive a Jewish upbringing. This was an attempt to avoid the unrest that an overly radical approach would create on the ‘Home Front’ in war time. The Nazis classified such marriages as ‘privileged’. With the increasing radicalization towards the end of war, the protective veneer of ‘mixed marriage’ was stripped away as the Nazi leadership subjected Jewish spouses to persecution and ordered their deportation.