Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

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By the time of the pogrom their contact with non-Jews was minimal, as Jews were
effectively dwelling in their own private island in the city.
Contact with Non-Jews
According to interviewees, on the eve of the Nazi accession to power, relations
between Jews and non-Jews were not problematic. On occasion there had been
incidents of antisemitism. However, the Jewish community felt totally integrated
into the fabric of mainstream society in Magdeburg and fully accepted. The only
exceptions would have been those Jews of Eastern European origins, whose strict
Orthodoxy prevented them from complete acculturation. The pattern of behaviour
between Jews and non-Jews from 1933 until 1938 in the social sphere conforms to
those previously elaborated on in the economic sphere and in the public domain.
From 1933 until 1935 the majority of interviewees confirmed that non-Jewish
family acquaintances and business contacts remained often sympathetic and
attempted to carry on established relationships. By the time of the Nuremberg
Laws these relationships had already commenced their demise. Some non-Jews
did acknowledge their former Jewish acquaintances in public. Others actually
explained that, owing to the new political situation, such relationships had to end.
A small number of non-Jews also remained loyal to the very end. By November
1938, few Jews in the city had any contact on a personal level with any non-Jews;
by this time not one interviewee recalled either themselves or any family member
possessing non-Jewish friends and acquaintances who acknowledged them in
public. A minority of Jews, both children and adults, still possessed non-Jewish
friends and acquaintances who met them clandestinely. The experiences varied
from individual to individual and particularly from children to adults. One