 Hamburg Jewish religious association).In March 1938 the JRH was deprived its status as statutory corporation (Körperschaft des öffentlichen Rechts; entailing loss of tax privileges), followed by the abolition of its constitutional bodies on 2 December the same year, such as the legislative college of representatives (Repräsentanten-Kollegium), subjecting the JRH executive board directly to Gestapo orders.In 1939 the tiny Sephardic congregation was forced to merge in the JRH, which again had to also enlist non-Jews of Jewish descent categorised by the Nazis as racially Jewish, such as irreligionists or Christians with three or more Jewish grandparents.