Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

240
A few months before I left my parents said you will have to work over there,
so they gave me to a family to help in the household there. I had no idea about
housework, but I wanted to get an idea. And they had a maid, and she had
epilepsy. One day she got an attack and fell down and that frightened the hell
out of me. After I saw that, I gave such a performance that my parents
took me out of there again. I was only supposed to stay to get an idea of how
to work for other people. Also, my parents took a teacher; I learnt English at
school, and they took a teacher in English for me that I have a bit more
knowledge……Yes, it did help me. 121
When Hans Jensen ceased his university studies in Hamburg in mid-1938, he
learned the locksmith trade. Simultaneously, his sister Ursula trained as a cook
and domestic servant in Berlin in preparation for emigration to any country
willing to accept her. 122 At that time, in 1938, she applied to emigrate to Australia.
She was to wait more than three years before the Australian government wrote to
her in India, informing her of the success of her application. At nineteen years of
age, she left her parents and brother in Bombay and set sail for Australia. 123
The remaining area of preparation occurred indirectly in Magdeburg, arising
as a result of the limited employment opportunities for Jewish school leavers.
Jewish youth were trained and/or employed in Jewish establishments both in the
city and beyond. Both apprenticeships and positions for youth were offered as
early as 1933 and continued while positions and the demand existed. 124 Clearly,
both continued to shrink as businesses were ‘aryanised’ or abandoned or
emigration became an option for both individuals and families. Some positions
and apprenticeships were offered in Magdeburg itself, but predominantly in other
towns and cities and included those in building, paving, gardening, farming,
carpentry, clothing manufacturing, millinery, dental nursing, auto mechanics,
121
Poppert, op. cit., 9 January 1998.
122
Ibid.
123
Ibid.
124
Correspondence from the Provinzial-Verband für jüdische Wohlfahrtspflege in
Sachsen-Anhalt, Magdeburg, 11 September 1933 – 28 March 1938, Bestand 2A2,
Signatur Nr. 1315, CJA, op. cit., pp. 1–300.