Ahnen#

Ancestors: relatives in ascending lineage. The honoring of ancestors was especially cultivated by Maximilian I (tomb in the in the court church in Innsbruck) and was later common in many noble families (ancestral galleries in palaces and castles). Frequent marriage between blood relatives in the aristocracy (esp. amongst the Habsburgs) meant that successive generations had fewer ancestors in their lineage ("Ahnenverlust" = loss of ancestors). Under National Socialism, a table of ancestors was demanded from everyone in order to evidence their ancestry. Only if all 4 grandparents were proven to be "Aryan" was a person considered to be "untainted by Jewish blood".