Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

178
until 1938, the community felt that as loyal citizens the legal apparatus of the state
would protect them. Given the large number of war veterans in the community,
there was also a strong feeling that their service record would protect them and
their loved ones. Until 1935, whilst some Jews were confused about events, others
were in total denial of the situation with regard to their new and evolving place, or
lack thereof, in Hitler’s Germany. Gisela Kent lamented her father’s denial of the
situation:
This is a very sore point with me. My father said it can’t last, and that: “They
don’t mean me. I was a soldier on the front; I got an Iron Cross. Those people
in the concentration camps, they must have done something wrong.” 174
Prior to the Nuremberg Laws, the majority of adult community members
attempted to adjust to their changed status, yet still clung to their trusted German-
Jewish identities. Simultaneously, they learned to cope with taunting and public
displays of antisemitism. Most felt it was temporary. However, this did not make
it any easier. Interviewees recalled many instances of being excluded or publicly
embarrassed on account of their Jewishness. Gisela Kent recalled such an
instance:
This girl said to me: “My mother told me that Jews cannot sing the national
anthem.” And I said that’s silly, of course we can. So she said: “Then sing it!”
So, I sang it! Unfortunately, I cannot sing. So, I’m sure that she never doubted
her mother’s word again [laughing]! I knew all the words, but the notes
weren’t there! 175
All illusions of the hoped-for temporary nature of their situation evaporated in
September 1935. In Magdeburg this symbolic end was made manifest in the
judiciary and the press. On 7 December 1935, the Reich and Prussian Minister for
the Interior requested that the coverage of all criminal trials of Jews be made a
174 Kent, op. cit., 5 January 1998.
175 Ibid.