Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

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We didn’t go out a lot socially. You couldn’t go to the pictures because of the
same signs: “Jews, Gypsies and Dogs are not allowed!” So, you just
didn’t go out. We kids sometimes did; we snuck in, but our parents never did.
And there was one place in Magdeburg called ‘Schwarzs Kaffee-Garten’
[‘Schwarz’s Coffee Garden’] where they used to go every Sunday. They still
went there – my parents, my aunt, uncle and my grandparents, for quite a
while, until about 1936. And then they stopped, or perhaps they were asked to
stop. 90
When Gerry Levy’s aunt took him to a restaurant for a light refreshment they
experienced the situation of being identified, approached by the manager and
asked to leave. His aunt agreed to comply, but also added in her reply: ‘Yes, but
not before we finish our cherries and ice-cream!’ 91 The defiance expressed here
may sound light-hearted; however, it belies the reality of the deep hurt of this
social ostracism. Eventually, the Jews in Magdeburg were excluded from the
majority of public space, as evidenced in the preceding two situations. More and
more Jews simply remained indoors and limited their outdoor activities to the
confines of their business lives, to procuring household provisions and to activities
conducted in the relative safety of Jewish space.
From 1937 until the pogrom of November 1938 exclusion from the daily life
of the city continued apace. With each new policy or measure against the Jews
came further isolation, further restrictions and greater insecurity and a mounting
lack of public safety. Clearly a large element of policy had more to do with
propaganda than with any real application. The desired outcome on the part of the
Nazis was to fully isolate the Jews and to simultaneously present their presence in
the community as a serious public danger. This is indicative in numerous polices.
For example, on 21 March 1937 the Gestapo forbade the issuing of hunting
90 Kent, op. cit., 5 January 1998.
91 Levy, op. cit., 7 November 1996.