Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

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welcome here!’ 72 The signs were compulsory and were purchased for RM 1
each. 73
Rellum’s main protest revolved around the issue of public disorder. He
described how, in the week preceding the writing of his letter, a new practice had
emerged. He wrote of how, in the evenings after dark, a motorcade of between
eight and ten vehicles, each consisting of between ten and twenty SA men, would
traverse the city’s streets shrieking antisemitic slogans, predominantly ‘Perish
Jew!’, 74 and occasionally fire their rifles into the air. The vehicles were
emblazoned with signs reading: ‘The Devil is the Father of the Jews’ and ‘Strike
the Jews dead, wherever you may find them!’ 75 Rellum concluded his letter by
remarking that he was one of thousands of concerned Magdeburg citizens who felt
that such behaviours were dishonourable to Germany and that, given such
excesses, he questioned whether or not he was still residing in a cultured and law-
abiding state. He also lamented that the city police could openly commit murder
without recourse. In his final sentence, Rellum professes that there would be no
peace in Magdeburg until Gauleiter Loeper and Kreisleiter Krause were replaced,
and blamed the lawlessness solely on ‘their lack of discretion’ in all matters
pertaining to the Jews. 76
72 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, op. cit., p. 321. The original
German text of the sign reads: ‘Juden sind hier unerwünscht!’
73 Kent, op. cit., 5 January 1998.
74 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, op. cit., p. 321. The original
German text reads: ‘Jude, verrecke!’
75 Ibid., p. 322. The original German texts of the signs read: ‘Der Teufel ist der Vater
der Juden’ and ‘Schlagt die Juden tot, wo ihr sie findet!’
76 Ibid.