Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

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Jewish business owners, either due to accusations or after having been arrested
and/or incarcerated, were ‘persuaded’ to sell their businesses. The incident at the
shoe repair shop of Jakob Wurmser, also previously discussed, was an example of
this. The owner of ‘Kaufhaus Gebrüder Barasch’, Hermann Broder, was also
‘persuaded’ to sell his department store, after members of his senior staff were
arrested and charged with ‘Rassenschande’ and his department store forced to
close temporarily in December 1935 134 prior to its ‘aryanisation.’
Jewish eyewitnesses recalled the ‘disappearances’ of Jewish businesses from
the commercial landscape of the city and how ‘aryanisations’ became a feature of
everyday life for Jewish inhabitants, particularly after 1935. Even when
businesses were in the process of being liquidated and inventories were being
meticulously taken, Jews were still employed to perform these tasks, as one
interviewee recalled:
Otto-von-Guericke-Straße was where ‘Sperling’ was. His building was about a
four-storey building and the Nazis closed him down and then got Jewish
people to do the stocktaking. See, Germans have to do everything correctly –
they had to complete a full stocktaking before they took the business. So,
Mum worked there for weeks and even Dad got a job there for a few days
doing stocktaking. 135
The evidence indicated here is confirmed by documentation. 136 In the case of ‘L.
Sperling & Co.’ and other similar-sized enterprises, the precise and meticulous
records of their ‘aryanisations’ occupy volumes of documentation. 137
134 Betrifft: Schließung des jüdischen Kaufhauses Barasch, Magdeburg, 13. Dezember
1935, Bestand Rep. C 20 I. I b, Signatur Nr. 119, LHASA MD, op. cit., pp. 301–303.
135 Personal interview, name withheld on request (recorded), Sydney, 18 June 1999.
136 Status der Firma L. Sperling & Co. per 30. September 1939, 4. Dezember 1939,
Bestand Rep. C 28 I f, Signatur Nr. 933, Band 15 (1938–1942), LHASA MD, pp. 1–
133.
137 Sperling, 16. Januar 1939 – 9. Oktober 1944, Bestand Rep. C 28 I f, Signatur Nr.
933, Band 12 (1938–1942), LHASA MD, pp. 1–300.