Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

232
time, the demand of the two known Hachsharah centres had exceeded supply, and
consequently further farmland was requested and granted.
Hemmi Freeman recalled the Hachsharah centres and that those involved in
the preparatory activities were drawn largely from the Zionist groups in
Magdeburg and its immediate environs. 95 The goal of such centres was Aliyah and
the majority of the participants were drawn from Zionist youth groups,
particularly prior to September 1935. However, as the situation deteriorated, a
number of parents and even youths themselves, irrespective of their ideological
standpoint on Zionism, sought training at such centres. Interviewees remarked that
already in early 1936 the Jewish youth in the city were openly discussing with one
another their options with a view to leaving Germany. George Mannings’ aunt in
Berlin, Käthe Manneberg, organised a place for him at a Hachsharah centre in
East Prussia. 96 His family did not support Zionism and neither did the youth
himself wish to emigrate to Palestine; yet this seemed the only option. Prior to the
dissolution of all Zionist organisations in July 1938 a concerted effort was made
to prevent Jewish youth who had emigrated from returning to Germany to visit
relatives. The State Police was informed to obstruct these visits, even in the cases
of Jewish children under the age of sixteen years. The memorandum indicated that
in view of the government’s position on the ‘Jewish question,’ the return of young
Jews to Germany was not desired under any circumstances. 97
The first documentary evidence of youth from the Synagogen-Gemeinde
expressing their desire to leave Germany on their own and then putting this
difficult decision into practice occurred in early to mid-1936. Attitudes of
95 H. Freeman, op. cit., 13 May 1998.
96 Mannings, op. cit., 17 August 1999.
97 Betrifft: Maßnahmen gegen zurückkehrende Emigranten, 20. Dezember 1937,
Bestand Rep. C 20 I. I b, Signatur Nr. 1831, Band IV, LHASA MD, op. cit., p. 92.