Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

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directly to the Gestapa in Magdeburg. 82 On 16 March 1939, the provisional
government acknowledged receipt of the nationally despatched memorandum
from Reinhard Heydrich on 11 February 1939 establishing the Reichszentrale für
jüdische Auswanderung, with himself as head. 83 In spite of a ban on Jews from
operating travel agencies effective from 1 June 1939, exemptions for those
operating as agents for Jewish emigration were granted on 8 May 1939. 84
Irrespective of the centrality of the Nazi desire and plan for mass Jewish
emigration, the realities of the hurdles Jews faced in achieving this only increased.
Jews desperately sought emigration, yet simultaneously faced Nazi bureaucracy;
their limitations were due to their own impoverishment, few countries willing to
offer asylum and the difficult prospect of securing passage.
Both the families of Samuel Freiberg and Jakob Wurmser left Magdeburg for
Australia soon after the pogrom. Wurmser’s daughter recalled their departure
around the 23–24 November 1938:
Firstly, we said goodbye to our grandfather and to our aunt, who did not
survive. That same evening, R.’s [her female cousin] uncle came from
Buchenwald, black and blue – beaten, and with a shaved head – that was
horrible; that was the same evening that we left. They had picked him up to
say goodbye to us. 85
Whilst their grandfather managed to immigrate to Palestine, their spinster aunt,
Lilli Freiberg, remained. She was deported from Magdeburg to Berlin, and then to
Auschwitz on 26 February 1943, 86 where she perished, aged fifty-two.
82
Betr.: Auswanderung der Juden, 3. Februar 1939, Bestand Oa, Signatur Nr. 46,
ASGM, op. cit., unnumbered page.
83
Betrifft: Reichszentrale für jüdische Auswanderung, 11. Februar, 1939, Bestand
Rep. K 3, Signatur Nr. 4094 e, Film 58, LHASA MD, p. 49.
84
Betr.: Jüdische Reisebüros und Auswanderungsagenten, 8. Mai 1939, Bestand Rep.
C 20 I. I b, Signatur Nr. 2537, LHASA MD, op. cit., p. 187.
85
H. B., op. cit., 15 August 1997.
86
Zentralinstitut für sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung, Freie Universität Berlin, ed.,
op. cit., p. 330.