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Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

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366<br />

remember when I made the suggestion that it might be an adventure [to be<br />

deported], he said: “No, I don’t think that it would be that good.” I think<br />

being two years older he might have had more <strong>of</strong> an idea than I had. 226<br />

With this doubt in the minds <strong>of</strong> all <strong>Jews</strong>, parents only ever discussed the subject in<br />

hushed tones and attempted to exclude children from any such discussion. 227 <strong>The</strong><br />

situation with the ongoing deportations in 1942, coupled with the resulting serious<br />

reduction in the community’s numbers, exacerbated the already desperate and<br />

despairing lives <strong>of</strong> those remaining <strong>Jews</strong>. However, as interviewees recalled, there<br />

was nothing that they could do to alter anything. <strong>Life</strong> continued in its altered form<br />

and <strong>Jews</strong>, yet again, attempted to adjust.<br />

With the deportation <strong>of</strong> <strong>Jews</strong> and the evacuation <strong>of</strong> entire apartment buildings,<br />

measures followed governing the refurbishment <strong>of</strong> such buildings and their<br />

leasing arrangements. In <strong>Magdeburg</strong> in August 1942, orders from the Reich<br />

Minister for Finance were issued that no beautification or repairs <strong>of</strong> former<br />

‘Judenwohnungen’ were to be carried out. However, medical <strong>of</strong>ficers would<br />

organise the disinfection <strong>of</strong> such premises and investigate whether there were any<br />

health-threatening situations in apartments which would require repairs for<br />

‘Aryan’ habitation. 228 An example <strong>of</strong> this was the ‘Judenhaus’ located at Große<br />

Mühlenstraße 11/12. With the deportation <strong>of</strong> all <strong>of</strong> its inhabitants by August 1942,<br />

including the owner <strong>of</strong> the building, the widow Rosa Weinberg née Kohane, the<br />

Ministry <strong>of</strong> Finance for the province <strong>of</strong> Saxony commenced this process in<br />

October 1942. 229 For this and other former ‘Judenhäuser,’ it also marked the legal<br />

226<br />

Name withheld, op. cit., 18 June 1999.<br />

227<br />

Ibid.<br />

228<br />

Instandsetzung von Judenwohnungen in reichseigenen, ehemals jüdischen<br />

Grundstücken, 1. August 1942, Bestand Rep. G 1, Signatur Nr. 390, LHASA MD, op.<br />

cit., p. 81.<br />

229<br />

Betrifft: Judengrundstück in <strong>Magdeburg</strong>, Große Mühlenstraße 11/12, 29. Oktober<br />

1942, Bestand Rep. C 20 I. I b, Signatur Nr. 3296, Band 2, LHASA MD, p. 93.

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