| As I said, the identifiability of a grandparent as Jewish was the mark of distinction, when such records existed. Many people who were not religiously Jewish, but were baptized or secular, ended up in the camps. Surnames (in Poland, Yiddish instead of Polish), features (anyone with "semitic features" distinguishable from the surrounding population was likely to be detained), and even circumcision, which even secularized Jews tended to practice, were marks used. Certainly, religion was the main identifier, even of the grandparents, but the theory underlying was racist, not religious. |
