Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

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had been plundered. He arrived home safely and thought nothing more of the
damage until later that morning. 18 Prior to the mass arrests that morning, Ernst
Levy was one of a small number of Jews who was informed by non-Jews that he
was in imminent danger. His son, Gerry Levy, recalled this:
This Mr Plettig from the Magdeburg Gestapo was the one who tipped off my
father. My father was known to him because of his activities with the
Reichsbund jüdischer Frontsoldaten. One of his staffers contacted my father
and informed him that arrests were to take place at six o’clock in the morning
[of 10 November] and that he should get out [of the city]. 19
This same information was supplied to three other fathers of the interviewees.
Joachim Freiberg received the same telephone call and departed for Berlin. He
remained there for approximately two to three weeks, where he was hidden in the
Jewish hospital. A personal friend of his, originally from Magdeburg, was a
physician there. 20 Likewise Freiberg’s brother and brother-in-law, Samuel
Freiberg and Jakob Wurmser, were telephoned and told to ‘go away as they [the
Gestapo] are arresting all the [Jewish] men.’ 21 Both men heeded the advice and
fled in Freiberg’s car. Returning to Magdeburg, both hid in the apartment of the
Sorger family, who lived across the street from their respective homes. 22
Whilst the Freiberg brothers and Jakob Wurmser evaded arrest, the Gestapo
was persistent in its pursuit of Ernst Levy. Few Jewish males (aged between
twenty-one and sixty-five years) evaded arrest in Magdeburg.
After being informed at approximately six o’clock that morning of the
imminent arrests, Ernst Levy went to his parents’ home for refuge. Some time
later, his sister Hanna arrived at her brother’s home to inform Levy’s wife,
18
Levy, op. cit., 7 November 1996.
19
Personal interview with Gerry Levy AM (recorded), Sydney, 1 October 1999.
20
M. F., op. cit., 27 June 1999.
21
H. B., op. cit., 15 August 1997.
22 Ibid.