Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

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same courtyard in the summer months, however, at different times. 59 The
‘Judenschule’ was still operating when the Reichskristallnacht occurred, whilst a
minority of Jewish pupils still attended public schools. In the wake of the pogrom
both teachers emigrated with their families to the United States of America
(USA). Rosenberg had been released from custody on condition of his immediate
emigration. He tended his resignation on 30 November 1938 to be effective from
15 November 1938, and he and his family left for the USA after a short stay in the
Netherlands.
Classes at the school were officially suspended on 7 December 1938, as there
was no teaching staff left. Schindler was already in the USA attempting to procure
guarantors for his children’s emigration. 60 It is not known whether or not he was
already in the USA at the time of the pogrom.
For the period under discussion there is no single pattern characterising the
situation of Jewish pupils in public schools. Some felt that a number of their
teachers and some of their fellow pupils remained neutral in their relations with
them. For some pupils relations were distant, even strained, yet not overtly hostile
on the part of non-Jews. For others, open hostility pervaded the entire school
environment. Until the middle of 1935 the emergence of antisemitism was
generally gradual. However, the deterioration in the school environment from this
point in time can be linked directly to the introduction of the Nuremberg Laws and
the ensuing persistent antisemitism of the school authorities in Magdeburg, which
sought segregation shortly thereafter. This culminated in the establishment of the
‘Judenschule’ in June 1938. After the Reichskristallnacht and the wave of
59 M. F., op. cit., 27 June 1999.
60 Correspondence from the office of Der Oberbürgermeister der Stadt Magdeburg, 7
December 1938, Bestand Rep. C 28 II, Signatur Nr. 3996, LHASA MD, op. cit., p.
22.