Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

344
in a typed memorandum that the schools would be closed effective 1 July 1942. 147
Beyond this date private tuition of Jewish children was not permitted. However,
parents were allowed to provide instruction in the home. Children above the age
of fourteen years could henceforth be used in forced labour and were instructed to
register with local authorities. All pupils in possession of travel passes were
ordered to surrender them to the issuing authority. 148 On 10 July 1942, the
provincial government received a memorandum which indicated the closure of the
schools ‘in view of the recent development in the ‘resettlement’ of the Jews.’ 149
The second mass deportation from Magdeburg occurred the following day.
Henceforth, until capitulation of the Nazis, the remaining children received home
schooling.
Whilst school life formed a large component of their lives, the children in the
Jewish community occupied themselves in a routine, much the same way as their
adult counterpart did. Despite their living conditions and the hostility of the
outside world, they participated in family life and sought leisure activities. Prior to
the introduction of the wearing of the star, abuse and violence toward them
existed, but not on the same scale as occurred after this edict. Jewish children
became serious targets, with non-Jewish children regularly abusing them verbally,
throwing objects at them and performing other acts of violence. 150 Whilst in the
majority of cases the acts were performed by younger Germans, there were such
cases where adults behaved toward Jewish children in exactly the same manner.
147
Betr.: Auflösung des jüdischen Schulwesens, 22. Juni 1942, Bestand Oa, Signatur
Nr. 46, ASGM, op. cit., unnumbered page, one-page newsletter.
148
Ibid.
149
Schließung jüdischer Schulen, 7. Juli 1942, Bestand Rep. C 28 II, Signatur Nr. 88,
Band 2, LHASA MD, op. cit., p. 97.
150
M. F., op. cit., 27 June 1999.