Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

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requirements by early December 1938, 74 he was still desperately waiting for
landing permits and travel documents. Hans Jensen recollected his feelings at that
time after the pogrom:
We wondered what would happen to us; we just lived from one day to the
next. 75
My father went practically every day to a certain travel agency wanting four
tickets to Shanghai. That was the only thing left for us. One day my father
went and the answer was no. And then, one fellow walked in and said: “I’ve
got four tickets for Shanghai, can you sell them?” My father was in like a
shot! That’s how we got out of Germany. We got the train from Berlin to
Trieste. We got onto the Conte Rosso, which was going on to Shanghai. It
happened around early January 1939 – it was a miracle! Four tickets – I mean
we needed four tickets! 76
The example of the Jeruchem family highlights the difficulty of securing passage.
This example also indicates that even at this point in time some emigrants were
still selective in their destination, as the Jeruchems also managed to obtain visas
for Siam, but decided against this destination.
On 2 January 1939, Walter Heinemann, the agent for Jewish emigration in
Magdeburg, despatched a report on local Jewish emigration to the Magdeburg
Gestapa and marked it to the attention of an officer by the surname of Plettig. 77
Heinemann was the agent not only for the city of Magdeburg, but the entire
administrative district of Magdeburg, which included the cities of Bleicherode,
Halle and Nordhausen amongst others. At the time he was processing 300
74
Bescheinigung für Divisenstelle, Finanzamt, Schönebeck (Elbe), 8. Dezember
1938, Private Archive of Hans Jensen, op. cit.
75
Jensen, op. cit., 11 July 1999.
76
Jensen, op. cit., 14 June 1999.
77
Betr.: Bericht über die Auswanderung der Juden, 2. Januar 1939, Collection
0.51.OSSOBI, File 103, YVA, pp. 20–23. This highly detailed four-page report was
divided into four sections, which discussed in a comprehensive manner the following
subjects: The state of and possibilities for emigration; Plans for emigration; Financial
means currently at Jews’ disposal; Difficulties in emigration.