Six Years of Hitler (RLE Responding to Fascism) by G Warburg

Author:G Warburg [Warburg, G]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General, Europe, Germany
ISBN: 9781136960505
Google: XrDHBQAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2010-11-01T01:16:13+00:00

DRIVE TOWARDS THE GHETTO

In 1937 municipalities began to discriminate against Jews in the public parks.26 Special seats, usually painted yellow, were set aside for the use of “non-Aryans” only, while all the other seats were reserved for “Aryans”. After the Anschluss of Austria, the authorities went a step farther and started to close most of the parks, at any rate in Vienna,27 to Jews. Later on, the Viennese police president closed all the playing fields to Jewish sports clubs,28 thus practically depriving the Jews of the last possibility of any kind of physical exercise. Relentlessly the drive went on. After the physical presence of the Jews, came the turn of their spiritual presence, for the Minister of the Interior decreed that all streets or parts of streets in Germany that were named after Jews or “cross-breeds” were to be renamed forthwith, and it was not even permitted, as is otherwise usual in the case of changed street names, to leave the old one for a while beside the new one in order to make things easier for the inhabitants and their visitors.29 No, the Jewish or “cross-breed” names had to be wiped out at once. The drive against the Jews and for the separation of Jews from “Aryans” had no respect for the sick. Jews and “Aryans” had to be separated in the hospitals too. Detailed regulations were issued to the Berlin hospitals, instructing them how the Jewish sick were to be treated, that they were to be sent at once to Jewish hospitals, that in the case of Jewish patients whose treatment was paid for out of public funds special yellow papers bearing a big letter J had to be used, and that in general Jews might be kept in, or newly admitted to, the general hospitals only when it was a matter of life or death.30 In other towns things were usually no better, but worse. The case of the Austrian lady who was not admitted to any Viennese hospital for her confinement and had to fly to London for the purpose, illustrates the position better than any enumeration of paragraphs and clauses.

After the pogrom in November, 1938, things grew rapidly worse. Dr. Goebbels issued a decree forbidding Jews throughout Germany to enter places of public entertainment, such as theatres, cinemas, concert halls, museums, libraries, etc.31 While doubtless at that moment the Jews were not in the mood for entertainment, a visit to a museum or library might have helped those who were not confined to concentration camps, or on the hunt for visas to other countries, over the desperate period of enforced idleness. And the ban from entertainment, although not particularly effective as such, hurt, and was intended to hurt, as could be seen from the grounds given for this ban. “Germans cannot be expected,” said Dr. Goebbels, “to sit next to Jews.”

And now the blows came thick and fast. Jews were forbidden to keep any weapons, the term “weapon” being interpreted as widely as possible.32 Even

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.