At the beginning of the 20th century, Heinrich Spiero was a well-known and successful writer and literary historian until the situation in Germany changed radically with Hitler's rise to power in 1933. The National Socialists regarded Spiero as a Jew, despite his Christian baptism. This placed him in a group of persecuted individuals that remains largely unrecognized to this day: Christians of Jewish descent. As help from the churches was mostly absent, members of this group established the "Reich Association of Christian German Citizens of Non-Aryan or Non-Pure Aryan Descent" (since 1936 known as the Paulus-Bund) in July 1933 as a representation of their interests and a self-help organization. In 1935, Heinrich Spiero took over the chairmanship but had to resign in 1937 due to his classification as a "full Jew." He succeeded in opening a private assistance office, the Dr. He office.