Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

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emigrated to England. 162 These businesses were ‘Max Brandus Pty. Ltd.’, located
at Gröperstraße 2 and the pump factory ‘Hannach & Co.’, located at Stolzestraße
2–5.
In conclusion, the circumstances and the actual process of each particular
‘aryanisation’ had the potential to vary. Nevertheless, a number of observations
can be made. In the initial years of the regime, businesses sold ‘voluntarily’ were
still sold at greatly reduced prices. However, vendors did achieve better prices and
generally without the same level of harassment as came in the later years. This is
one explanation for the low figure of businesses sold up until the application of
the Nuremberg Laws. The majority of Magdeburg’s Jews adjusted to the change
in power and attempted to continue conducting their livelihoods, even though
under difficult circumstances.
However, when racial classification and legal disempowerment came with the
Nuremberg Laws, the ramifications were immediate. This is manifested in the
statistics of ‘aryanisations’ from 1936 until 1938. During this period Jewish
business owners were actively harassed not only through boycotts and the ongoing
very public campaign of defamation, but by threats of breaching civil codes and of
the accusations of embezzlement and ‘Rassenschande.’ Owing to the combined
efforts of both governmental and non-governmental bodies acting in a co-
operative manner, Jews were left in totally defenceless positions, even when they
did agree to sell their businesses. At the centre of this activity must be placed the
Gauwirtschaftsberater and Gauleiter of Magdeburg-Anhalt, whose counsel was
162 Betrifft: Entjudung der gewerblichen Wirtschaft, 24. Oktober 1940, Bestand Rep.
C 20 I. I b, Signatur Nr. 2537, LHASA MD, op. cit., p. 211.