Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

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faceless enemies. In all of the experiences of the parents and grandparents of the
interviewees there were no reports of any type of abuse from those non-Jews who
severed social and/or business contact. The relationships simply faded away or
were ended abruptly without acrimony. However, there existed a minority of
noble-minded non-Jews who continued to maintain contact and provide assistance
to their Jewish friends and acquaintances as the situation worsened.
Unlike their parents or grandparents, Jewish children and youth drew most of
their social circle from school and from the Jewish community. They felt the
brutality after 1933 severely. Non-Jewish children were antagonistic toward
Jewish children from very early on, particularly in public schools. Owing to the
impact of both propaganda and the Nazi youth movements, the experiences of
Jewish children and youth were predominantly negative and on occasion violent.
By 1935, the overwhelming majority of Jewish youth possessed only Jewish
friends. Owing to the obvious fact that non-Jewish children could identify their
Jewish counterpart, from their school connections, Jewish children and youth were
targeted constantly in public. This instilled a fear in most Jewish youth, who
avoided any contact with all non-Jews in public. However, there were instances
where the few Jews who possessed non-Jewish friends and acquaintances
remained loyal and attempted to maintain their friendships as though they were
normal. No single pattern characterising social contact between Jews and non-
Jews who were children or youths emerges (not dissimilar to the situation of life at
school). However, the majority of interviewees recalled a range of only negative
experiences in any contact with their non-Jewish cohort.
Those interviewees who were already teenagers in 1933 recalled that they, too,
experienced a period of transition. Non-Jewish friends were quick to remind their