Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

also is any information concerning the subject of the member’s non-Jewish spouse
and/or children. 31 In March 1937 the community’s population was 1,264; in April
it was 1,270; in May it was 1,272 and in June it dropped to 1,256. 32 These data
indicate that the community continued to function in its structural and
administrative capacity and to maintain effective management of its affairs. The
documentation also bears witness to the departure of community members.
The religious community attempted to meet the immediate and ever-changing
needs of its members, within the structure of the communal organisations, which
existed in pre-Nazi Magdeburg. On a political front, however, and particularly so,
in the defence of the community, the regional branch of the Centralverein (CV),
the Landesverband Mitteldeutschland, attempted to act and represent both
individuals and the community as a whole, when dealing with the authorities. 33
The exact date of the dissolution of the official status of any of the religious
congregations in Magdeburg cannot definitively be established. However, all
congregations lost their status as corporations under public law on 28 March
1938. 34 The Synagogen-Gemeinde became known as the Jüdische
Kultusvereinigung (Synagogen Gemeinde E. V. Magdeburg). Further to this, the
community was later officially incorporated into the Reichsvereinigung der Juden
in Deutschland on 27 May 1941 and became known as the Bezirksstelle Sachsen-
Thüringen der Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland Verwaltungsstelle
31
Personalbögen der Zu- und Abgänge, 1937, Collection D/Ma3, File VIII.8, CAHJP,
op. cit.
32
Mitgliederzahl der Synagogen-Gemeinde zu Magdeburg, Stichtag 1937, ibid.
33
For a complete history of the CV see Avraham Barkai, “Wehr Dich!” Der
Centralverein deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens (C. V.) 1893–1938
München: Verlag C. H. Beck, 2002.
34
Avraham Barkai, “Self-Help in the Dilemma: ‘To Leave or to Stay’,” in Michael A.
Meyer, ed., German Jewish History in Modern Times, Volume 4, Renewal and
Destruction: 1918–1945, New York: Columbia University Press, 1997, p. 318.
27