Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

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behaviour would not be tolerated. 68 Whilst the noble act of the teacher must be
acknowledged, the deep sense of embarrassment and humiliation of the Levys
must also be noted. Day-to-day life for Jews in public included being publicly
defamed verbally, and often to one’s face.
In July 1935 spontaneous demonstrations against Jews had created such a
degree of public disorder that the office of the State Police for the Magdeburg
District condemned and outlawed such activities, claiming that those individuals
involved were opponents of the state. 69 Such spontaneous demonstrations became
an ongoing problem, and this situation is confirmed by oral history. So serious
was the situation that on 22 August 1935 a local businessman and Nazi Party
member by the name of Rellum wrote a detailed letter condemning the public
disorder in Magdeburg and despatched it to the Minister for the Interior, Wilhelm
Frick. 70 Rellum wrote that in his view the ‘struggle against the Jews’ in
Magdeburg had become ‘crude and indecent.’ 71 Rellum provided a useful account
of the sense of public disorder in Magdeburg at the time. He elaborated on the
facts that Jews in the city were forbidden from theatres and public baths and no
newspaper in the city would accept any business in the form of advertisements
from Jews. He confirmed that any potential customer entering a Jewish business
was set upon by either uniformed or plain-clothes officers and harangued. He also
bemoaned the directive from the local Nazi Party that every business and even
street pedlars had to purchase and display the mandatory sign ‘Jews are not
68
Levy, op. cit., 7 November 1996.
69
Betr.: Antisemitische Demonstrationen, 18. Juli 1935, Bestand Rep. C 31, Signatur
Nr. 26, LHASA MD, op. cit., p. 2.
70
Correspondence from the Magdeburg businessman and Nazi Party member,
Rellum, to the Reich Minister for the Interior, Dr Frick, 22 August 1935, Bestand
Rep. C 20 I. I b, Signatur Nr. 1996, Band 4, LHASA MD, pp. 321–322. This letter
provides a highly detailed report on the subject of public disorder in Magdeburg.
71
Ibid., p. 321.