Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

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had the lowest figure, as this pupil would in fact be the bearer of finest ‘Aryan’
cranium. To his horror, Hansgünter had to raise his hand, as he had the lowest
figure. When the pupils began laughing the teacher became annoyed and asked the
class to explain what was so amusing. When he was told that Hansgünter was
Jewish, he was shaken beyond description. The teacher politely asked the youth to
leave the room and followed him out of the classroom. Hansgünter, then aged
seventeen, thought only the worst and was terrified. To his amazement the teacher
simply requested that he not attend any more lessons for the subject and dismissed
him. Jensen also recalled that the brother of the notorious antisemite Gauleiter
Loeper taught him Mathematics at the school and never uttered an antisemitic
word to the teenager. 37 These examples indicate the diversity of responses from
non-Jewish teachers to official Nazi ideology.
Fights regularly broke out when Jewish children were taunted or set upon.
Often Jewish children fled, rather than confront the situation, as they were acutely
aware of the ramifications were they to retaliate. This awareness did not prevent
some Jewish children from defending themselves when they felt they had reached
saturation point. Many of the children who defended themselves felt a great sense
of satisfaction and pride at striking back, as this was a dangerous and courageous
thing to do. Others settled scores in the sporting arena. Many interviewees
remarked that this was one of the few occasions when their non-Jewish peers were
cordial, as they were all keen and talented participants in various sports. A
minority of Jewish pupils felt that it was possibly due to their sporting endeavours
and achievements that they were accepted by some of their non-Jewish peers.
37 Jensen, op. cit., 14 June 1999.