Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

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As the application of these race laws progressed, so too did a steady flow of
antisemitic legislation and propaganda designed to make life as difficult as
possible for Jews and to encourage them to emigrate. By the time the
Reichskristallnacht occurred, very few aspects of Jewish life in both the public
and private domains were not governed by Nazi policy. A chronological study of
the legislative measures highlights this escalation of demonisation and exclusion.
In 1933 the Jews of Magdeburg were shocked and dismayed by the destruction
of the German-Jewish ‘symbiosis.’ The majority of interviewees were either
children or teenagers at this time and recalled the reactions of community
members and their own families. The consensus of opinion of their parents’ and
grandparents’ generation was that Hitler was a temporary aberration and that the
German people would not tolerate such a government for long. They also assumed
that the initial violence and defamation of Jews were temporary measures and
would cease once the Nazis had established themselves and felt secure. Hemmi
and Sigrid Freeman recall:
All the older generation still, I think, had hope that being German would save
them and that Hitler was temporary and would die a sudden death. Everybody
thought that it’s a government that on one fine day will be kicked out. But it
didn’t work that way! 2
The majority of the older generation retained this attitude for some time. Even
when the boycott of 1 April 1933 took place, whilst community members were
frightened and shocked, the majority still remained convinced that these new
conditions were only temporary. 3
From 1933 to the introduction of the Nuremberg Laws in 1935, Nazi policy
toward the Jews in the city reflected the determination to consolidate power, to
2 H. and S. Freeman, op. cit., 13 May 1998.
3 Kent, op. cit., 5 January 1998.