Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

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On 1 July 1933, the Magdeburg city councillor Dr Drewes ordered that twelve
Jewish doctors and two dentists be excluded from the city’s health insurance
scheme. 88 This effectively removed them from public practice. This act of
exclusion was not the only act of its kind that occurred in Magdeburg. This
exclusion of Jewish physicians was enforced with diligence. On 9 May 1933,
Jewish physicians who were war veterans were awarded a temporary reprieve
when they received exemptions from exclusion from health insurance schemes;
thus allowing them to continue to practise. However, this victory was short-
lived. 89 In order to circumvent any exemptions, the Magdeburg Insurance
Association for Physicians refused all Jewish practitioners access to both public
and private clinics in the city from September 1933. This effectively ended the
activities of Jewish medical practitioners in all clinics in Magdeburg. It also
adversely affected private medical practices. 90 The war veteran, Dr Spanier, and
the female physician, Dr Greiffenberg, who reported the events, expressed the
urgent concern as to how Jewish physicians in the city would survive and raised
the issue of the damage this action would do to administering public health in the
city. 91
On 25 January 1934, all civil servants for the city of Magdeburg were
provided with a list of ten Jewish physicians and one Jewish dentist. They were
further instructed not to use their professional services, as the named physicians
88 Krankenkasse. Listen und Namen jüdische Ärzte, die von der
Krankenkassenbehandlung ausgeschlossen wurden, 1. Juli 1933, Bestand Ärzte-001,
ASGM, p. 184.
89 Verordnung über die Zulassung der Kriegsteilnehmer zur ärztlichen Tätigkeit bei
den Krankenkassen, 9. Mai 1933, ibid., p. 192.
90 Memorandum from Dr Fränkel concerning reports in Magdeburg by Dr Spanier and
Dr Greiffenberg, 9 September 1933, Collection RG-11.00M.31, Reel 191, File 721-1-
2001, USHMMA, p. 167.
91 Ibid.