Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

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The Freiberg family, consisting of Joachim and Elli Freiberg and their two
sons, had moved into the city centre in 1937. The building in which their
apartment was located, at Große Mühlenstraße 11/12, later became a ‘Judenhaus.’
Consequently, they retained their apartment in the building, whilst non-Jews were
relocated from this designated ‘Judenhaus.’ 18 Designated ‘Judenhäuser’ became
exclusively Jewish, as ‘Aryans’ were moved out. Jewish inhabitants did not
necessarily remain at the same address for any given period and could be ordered
to move into another ‘Judenhaus’ at any time. When the Freibergs had moved into
the apartment building in Große Mühlenstraße, the only other Jewish family
living there was the Weinberg family. The Freiberg family remained in their old
apartment and continued their former restricted lifestyle, but at least they were
still living in familiar surroundings in their regular-sized apartment. By the time
they were ordered to move out in early 1940, however, there were already several
Jewish families living in the apartment building. 19
The Freibergs were deeply shocked when they were ordered by the Gestapa to
move into another ‘Judenhaus,’ located at Brandenburger Straße 2a. The
Freibergs’ youngest son recalled his feelings when they moved: 20
We didn’t want to go there. That was the first relocation. It was a fourth-rate
hotel. It was run by a Jewish family who came from the east and it had a
reputation for being pretty dirty. We hated the idea of moving there, but we
had to. There was something like thirty or forty people living there. We had
only one room or we might have had two small rooms. I know it was way up
the stairs and the toilet was one level below, to be shared with lots of other
people.
There were the usual squabbles between neighbours. People of different
backgrounds looking down on each other – there was everything there – Polish
18 M. F., op. cit., 27 June 1999.
19 Name withheld, op. cit., 18 June 1999.
20 Ibid.