Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

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before experienced investment opportunities to non-Jews at extortionately low
sale prices. 143 The first case involves one of the department stores in Magdeburg.
‘Kaufhaus Gebrüder Karfiol’ was owned by Ida Karfiol and located at
Jakobstraße 38. In early 1938 Ida Karfiol was pressured into selling her
department store for RM 24,000 to a local member of the Schutzstaffel (SS),
Albert Wagner. At the time the net worth of the stock in the store was itself
estimated at RM 70,000. Given the sum involved, Wagner was not in a position to
pay and it was agreed that he would have to pay the first instalment of RM 1,000
by 25 December 1938. However, Wagner did not pay by the due date and after a
series of complaints, Ida Karfiol received her first instalment of RM 1,000 on 27
May 1939. For Wagner this was the only amount he ever paid, as Ida Karfiol
emigrated on 28 May 1939. Wagner had in effect purchased a department store in
a prime retail location for RM 1,000. 144 Documentation detailing Ida Karfiol’s
destination and fate has not been located.
The second case concerns the previously discussed Jakob Wurmser, who was
also pressured into selling his leather and shoe repair business ‘Elsaß’. When
Wurmser finally relented and agreed to sell, the solicitor Max Abraham lodged the
application for the approval of the sale to the master cobbler Fritz Güssau on 30
June 1938. The price of the business in the contract of sale was RM 4,000. 145
When the contract reached the Gauwirtschaftsberater of the Nazi Party for
143 For a comparative case study see L. M. Stallbaumer, “Big Business and the
Persecution of the Jews: The Flick Concern and the ‘Aryanization of Jewish Property
before the War,” Holocaust and Genocide Studies, vol. 13, number 1, 1993, pp. 1–27.
144 Report by Hans Levy, Chairman of the Synagogen-Gemeinde zu Magdeburg,
undated, Bestand Oa, Signatur Nr. 46, ASGM, pp. 1–3.
145 Antrag auf Genehmigung eines Vertrages betreffend Veräusserung eines
gewerblichen Betriebes nach der Anordnung auf Grund der Verordnung über die
Anmeldung des Vermögens von Juden vom 26. April 1938, 30. Juni 1938, Bestand
Rep. C 28 I f, Signatur Nr. 933, Band 2, LHASA MD, pp. 296–300.