Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

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The Reichskristallnacht was a critical turning point. The pogrom marked a
transition in the escalation of persecution. What had occurred up until this point
was a steady step-by-step process resulting in political powerlessness, economic
strangulation and social segregation. The Reichskristallnacht had initiated a
heretofore unknown level of violence. The realisation by Jews that such fearful
events could have no limits was demonstrated for the first time on the
Reichskristallnacht. It was also in some respects a blueprint, as concentration
camps, which had originally been used to punish criminals and opponents of the
regime, were now extended to include Jews, not because they were offenders but
simply because they were Jewish. The Nazi leadership also learnt the lesson that
public violence in the streets of Germany was difficult to limit. Ordinary Germans
may have stood by, but rampaging violence and the destruction of property were
offensive to their social norms. The violence had also disturbed on a large scale
the administrative processes of official antisemitism. Henceforth, the persecution
of the Jews reverted back once more to official decrees. Large-scale displays of
public violence and damage to property were avoided.
The Reichskristallnacht represented the end of the first stage of the Shoah.
The demolition of the synagogue and the destruction of Jewish businesses in
Magdeburg symbolised the end of Jewish public life in the city. The second stage
of ghettoisation began when Jews were excluded from all public venues and
herded into ‘Judenhäuser.’ After November 1938 most Jews abandoned the
notion that they still had some rights as citizens of their German Heimat. The old
discussions of the alternatives of ‘homeland or exile’ and the question of ‘leaving