Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

temporary removal of antisemitic signage and a pause in the public singing of
defamatory songs. In the early years of the Nazi regime Kreis- und
Abschnittsleiter Krause in Magdeburg, together with the mayor, were responsible
for ensuring that all shops, pharmacies and restaurants displayed metal antisemitic
signs. Simultaneously, the mayor also sanctioned the same signs for trams and
Magdeburg was the first and only city in Germany to do so. These measures were
sanctioned by Gauleiter Loeper, a virulent antisemite based in Dessau. 189
This small selection of complaints to which the CV attended demonstrates the
escalation in the level of seriousness of antisemitic activity as the years
progressed. As the situation deteriorated after the introduction of the Nuremberg
Laws in September 1935, the CV developed strategies for physical survival. One
example of this surrounded the activity of shopping. When the issue of the
dangerous nature of shopping in Magdeburg began to recur constantly, the CV
commenced instructing community members to only shop at certain Jewish and
non-Jewish shops at particular times on particular days. 190
The final area of the CV’s activities concerned general communication with
the local authorities when the authorities required information or action on an
issue pertaining to the Jewish community. This provides evidence indicating the
level of its importance in its representation of the Jewish community to the local
authorities. Regular counsel was sought from the CV’s head office in Berlin,
particularly with regard to serious matters. An example of this occurred when the
Magdeburg Gestapa requested a comprehensive list of all members of the Jewish
189 Kurt Sabatzky, Meine Erinnerungen an den Nationalsozialismus, undated, File ME
541; MM65, LBIA NY, op. cit., pp. 25–26.
190 Correspondence to the regional office of the CV in Königsberg, 28 August 1935,
Collection RG-11.00M.31, Reel 101, File 721-1-2335, USHMMA, p. 79.
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