Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

263
destroyed. He ended his report by reiterating the order from Berlin that the
‘demonstrations’ had now officially ended. 37 On the same day the Gestapo
notified the provincial government that in the administrative region of Magdeburg
that a total of ‘237 adult, male, German nationals of the Jewish race had been
arrested.’ 38 Of this figure, 113 Jews were residents of Magdeburg. The 237 men
were sent by train at 11.18 a.m. on 11 November from Magdeburg to Buchenwald
Concentration Camp. 39
It is clear that there were three main aims during the pogrom in Magdeburg:
the destruction of the Synagogen-Gemeinde, 40 attacks on Jewish businesses and
the arrest of male Jews. None of the previously discussed property belonging to
the Jewish community was destroyed, except for the Synagogen-Gemeinde. In this
sense the act was a very symbolic one. Not only was this synagogue an
architectural landmark on the cityscape, but it was the city’s biggest synagogue
and was located in the centre of the city itself. In both a symbolic and in every
practical sense, Jewish communal and religious life in this city had been
demolished.
On the morning of 10 November Gerry Levy viewed the smouldering
synagogue and the damaged and looted shops. Große Schulstraße, the street
where the synagogue was located, was completely cordoned off. He also recalled
that there were no demonstrations, but that the public was simply looking on in a
passive manner. On his way home, he noticed a non-Jewish German wearing a
37 Betrifft: Ereignismeldung. Schäden an jüdischen Geschäften, 10. November 1938,
Bestand Rep. C 20 I. I b, Signatur Nr. 1996, Band V, LHASA MD, op. cit., p. 119.
38 Correspondence from the Geheime Staatspolizei, Staatspolizeistelle Magdeburg, An
den Herrn Oberpräsidenten in Magdeburg, 11 November 1938, ibid., p. 120.
39 Ibid.
40 Neither archival material nor oral history material indicates that the Shtiblech were
attacked and destroyed during the pogrom.