Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

171
apprentices. 153 All of the male staff implicated were Jewish and all of the alleged
victims were non-Jewish females. The department store was ordered to close
temporarily on 12 December 1935 and the owner was instructed by the police that
it could re-open on 14 December, 154 provided that all senior managerial staff,
including the accused, had been replaced by ‘Aryan’ staff. 155 The owner complied
and four of the accused were arrested and taken into custody. Three managed to
evade initial arrest, but were later apprehended.
The three senior male staff members who were originally arrested were Julius
Fischel, Rudolf Friedländler and Isidor Gans. 156 The fourth man originally
arrested appears to have been the non-Jewish owner of the hotel in Kantstraße,
where the alleged crimes were to have taken place. His name was Oehm. 157 Three
other Jews accused of involvement were also arrested; only two of whose names
have been located, they being Petzall and Wertheimer. 158 Fischel had been the
personnel chief at ‘Barasch’ since 1927; Friedländler was the supervisor of
general staff, including apprentices; and Gans had been the company secretary
since 1922.
Whilst attending to the assistance required by the defendants, Kurt Sabatzky of
the CV makes repeated references in his correspondence to the number of Jews,
both in Magdeburg and beyond, who were arrested for ‘Rassenschande.’ In all
153 Betrifft: Verfehlungen von leitenden Angestellten des jüdischen Warenhauses
Barasch in Magdeburg, 13. Dezember 1935, Bestand Rep. C 20 I. I b, Signatur Nr.
119, LHASA MD, op. cit., p. 302.
154 Betrifft: Schließung des jüdischen Kaufhauses Barasch in Magdeburg, 13.
Dezember 1935, ibid., p. 301.
155 Betrifft: Verfehlungen von leitenden Angestellten des jüdischen Warenhauses
Barasch in Magdeburg, 13. Dezember 1935, ibid., p. 303.
156 Ibid., p. 302.
157 Ibid.
158 Correspondence from the regional office of the CV in Leipzig to the head office of
the CV in Berlin, 6 January 1935, Collection RG-11.00M.31, Reel 130, File 721-1-
2845, USHMMA, op. cit., p. 359.