Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

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position of trust at the college. However, this was maximised in the Nazi
propaganda campaign against the Jews, both locally and nationally. The remaining
details of the entire case and the campaign that followed conform to the desired
and much-publicised image of Jews as sexual predators and of being capable of
every type of sexual perversion. To this end the media campaign in Magdeburg
and beyond reached a frenzy of demonisation and hatred. Through the diligence of
Der Stürmer the case of Hirschland, and everyone whose photograph appeared in
that special edition, became household knowledge throughout Germany. This also
occurred before the Nuremberg Laws were even enacted. With such a public
campaign in progress, all Jews in the city were potential targets.
The following multiple cases of ‘Rassenschande’ occurred after the
promulgation of the Nuremberg Laws and involved senior staff at Magdeburg’s
leading and most modern department store: ‘Kaufhaus Gebrüder Barasch’. This
establishment was owned and operated by Hermann Broder, a member of the
Synagogen-Gemeinde.
This department store was a household name in Magdeburg and possessed a
reputation as a fine establishment. The multiple cases of ‘Rassenschande’
surrounding ‘Barasch’ caused a sensation locally. Of the numerous cases of
‘Rassenschande’ which took place in the city, this one particularly remained in the
minds of all interviewees, largely due to the owner’s highly respected profile in
the Jewish community and the profile of the department store as an essential
component of the cityscape.
Early in December 1935 an informant contacted the office of the State Police
in Magdeburg claiming that a number of senior male staff at ‘Barasch’ had
committed ‘serious acts of moral indecency’ against female employees, including