Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

307
the agent for Jewish emigration in Magdeburg and as such was the registered
agent for the entire province of Saxony-Anhalt for the Hamburg-based ‘Red Star
Line’. His approval as an agent dated back to 14 September 1937. 6 The company
offered passage from Antwerp to the United States of America (USA) and
Heinemann was authorised to book all passages for ‘non-Aryans.’ 7 He continued
to book passages for Jewish emigrants via this route until the shipping line went
into liquidation in November 1939. 8 In the first quarter of 1940, 10,312 Jews from
German-occupied territory emigrated. The emigration figure from the Altreich
was that of 4,755 Jews. 9
Another documented route was that from Lisbon to the USA. However,
despite some travel routes remaining open, the obstacle continued to be the
acquisition of the necessary visas, as the story of the Zadek family illustrates. The
Zadek family had moved from Magdeburg to Berlin in July 1937 and settled in
Neukölln. The family consisted of Siegfried and Hulda and their twin daughters
Hanna and Ruth, aged thirteen years at the time. Hulda Zadek’s sister lived in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and, through family sponsorship, the Zadeks were
hopeful of emigrating to the USA. On 31 October 1939, both her brother-in-law,
6
Correspondence from the Red Star Linie G.M.B.H. to Walter Heinemann,
Magdeburg, 14 September 1937, Bestand Rep. C 28 I f, Signatur Nr. 227, Band 3,
LHASA MD, pp. 146–149.
7
Ibid., p. 146.
8
Betr.: Auswanderer-Erlaubnis für Herrn Walter Heinemann, Magdeburg, 24.
November 1939, ibid., p. 150.
9
Die jüdische Auswanderung aus dem Altreich, der Ostmark und dem Protektorat
Böhmen und Mähren im ersten Vierteljahr 1940, 12. April 1940, Collection
0.51.OSSOBI, File 103, YVA, op. cit., pp. 1–3. Of the total figure the destinations of
emigrants were as follows: North America – 4,500; Central and South America –
2,398; Australia – 6; Africa – 137; Asia – 1,675; Palestine – 394; and Europe
(excluding ‘enemy nations’) – 1,202.