 He was also a member of the humanist, non-Christian Rising Sun Lodge as well as the Social Democratic Party of Germany.In 1933, the Nazis seized power and introduced the legislation known as the Berufsbeamtengesetz, which, among other things, dismissed all Jews, including Berendsohn, from their government jobs.Three years later, further persecution by the state stripped Berendsohn of his German citizenship and Aryanized his property.