Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

375
This approximate total figure is close to the statistic of 726 Jews in the city in May
1939.
Deportation figures for Jews who were born in Magdeburg, but whose
domicile was elsewhere at their time of deportation, amounted to 184 Jews. 266 The
figures for deportees who were not born in Magdeburg but left the city have not
been established. In approximate terms, a minimum of some 800 Jews who had a
connection with the city were deported and the vast majority perished. 267
Very few Jews in Magdeburg witnessed liberation with the arrival of the
Americans in April 1945. Of the remaining group, the majority had been killed
during air raids. One interviewee recalled this period:
There were a few Jewish Magdeburger who returned, but not many. There
were people who had hidden or so. There were a lot of people who claimed
they were Jews and weren’t. I don’t think there were more than between
fifteen or eighteen, maximum twenty Jews. Of this perhaps seven odd were
children. 268
Very few Jews from Magdeburg survived deportation. There were no documented
cases of survival of the deportees to the ghettos in the east. Of the total 235
‘Mischehen,’ or as ‘Geltungsjuden’ and ‘Mischlinge’ possessed a far greater chance
of survival.
266
Betr.: Petition Magdeburger Opfer des Holocaust, 12. März 2001, ASGM, op. cit.,
pp. 1–19.
267
Statistics for the number of Jews from Magdeburg who perished in the Shoah have
been estimated to be as high as 1,521. See Landesverband Jüdischer Gemeinden
Sachsen-Anhalt, ed., op. cit., p. 189. The first statistic recorded was in 1948 and cited
approximately 1,300 Jews. See correspondence and report from the president of the
Synagogen-Gemeinde zu Magdeburg, Otto (Ismar) Horst Karliner, to Director Fink,
American Joint Distribution Committee, Berlin detailing the historical development of
the Jewish community of Magdeburg and reporting on the post-war situation and
future developmental aspirations of the community, 1 March 1948, Bestand 5B1,
Signatur Nr. 65, CJA, op. cit., p. 211. I would argue that both statistics are inaccurate.
Documentation supporting such figures has not been located. I would further argue
that the figures have been based on the number of Jews who left Magdeburg, that is,
both those who relocated elsewhere in Germany and those who emigrated, and not on
documented census and deportation statistics. It is most likely that both cited figures
have factored in an estimated mortality rate of emigrating Jews in order to reach such
total figures.
268
M. F., op. cit., 27 June 1999.