17

Ruth Worth Collection, AR 25024

Collection:

Original:

Box 1, folder 1

8

SUNDAY

The Trial

Jewish Cultural Association features a play about Arab-Jewish reconciliation

Berlin

After Polish-born Shulamit Gutgeld’s return to Palestine from several years of study in Berlin with the greats of German theater, Erwin Piscator and Max Reinhardt, she changed her name to Bat Dori – “daughter of my generation” or “contemporary.” And that she certainly was in a very conscious way: her plays were highly political and attuned to the events of the day—so much so that the British mandatory authorities forbade the performance of her 1936 play, “The Trial,” which called for peace between Jews and Arabs and was critical of the British. The Berlin branch of the Jüdischer Kulturbund, however, decided to produce the play. The document shown here is an invitation to the May 8 performance at the Kulturbund-Theater on Kommandantenstraße under the direction of Fritz Wisten.

TAGS: artists, Berlin, cultural life, document, Kulturbund, May 08, Palestine, Polish-born Jews, politics, prominent people

SOURCE

Institution:

Deutsches Historisches Museum

Original:

Invitation to the premiere of The Trial, a play by [Shulamit] Bat-Dori, adapted by Herbert Friedenthal, at the Theater of the Jewish Cultural Federation, Kommandantenstrasse 57; CJA, 1 D Gr 1, Nr. 10, #13322, Bl. 13

26

TUESDAY

Starting over at 40

Moses Wainstein overcomes the hurdles of international bureaucracy

Marseille

Marseille was one of the most important ports of departure for the refugees on their way overseas. It was here that Moses Wainstein obtained the papers he still needed for his emigration to Uruguay. This certificate of vaccination was written in Spanish for submission to the authorities there. The former Berliner had already had his belongings shipped to Marseille by a German company. Wainstein was 40 years of age at this point.

TAGS: April 26, Berlin, bureaucracy, displacement, document, emigration, immigration procedures, Marseille, medical record, refugees, South America

SOURCE

Institution:

Original:

Vaccination certificate issued on the steamer “Campana” for Moses Wainstein; Inv. No.: Do2 89/1008.4

Chronology of major events in 1938

Jews ordered to declare financial assets

A Jewish business vandalized in Vienna. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Herman Göring issues an order requiring Jews to declare all assets exceeding 5,000 Reichsmark. This includes assets at home and abroad. Those who do not comply face financial penalties as well as prison. Alf Krüger, the Minister of Economics, declares that the new regulations “pave the way for the complete and lasting elimination of Jews from the German economy.” Three days later, in a meeting at Göring’s offices in the Aviation Ministry, they resolve “to transform Jewish assets in a way that does not allow for Jews to have any further influence on the economy.” Göring will later reveal that this meeting also resulted in a plan to “Aryanize” the German economy. He explains: “[…] First, the Jew being ejected from the economy, transfers his property to the state. He will be compensated. The compensation is to be listed in the debit ledger and shall bring a certain percentage of interest. The Jew shall have to live out of this interest.” After the November pogroms, the National Socialists use the financial data collected to force Jews to hand over a quarter of their assets to the National Socialist authorities. When efforts to make restitution begin after the end of World War II, these same data help identify rightful beneficiaries.

View chronology of major events in 1938

21

THURSDAY

A Jewish cinema institute?

The Propaganda Ministry plans films to promote Jewish emigration

Berlin

According to a Jewish Telegraphic Agency report, on April 21, the Propaganda Ministry of Nazi Germany authorized the creation of a Jewish Cinema Institute. The name was misleading. It was not intended to serve the cultural enrichment of the Jewish community. The main purpose of the Institute was supposed to be the production of movies showing life in Palestine and urging German Jews to emigrate. In other words, the plan was just another part of the Nazi scheme to rid Germany of its Jews. At the same time, Der Stürmer, one of the most viciously antisemitic newspapers in Nazi Germany, declared that Jews should not be allowed inside cinemas and theaters.

TAGS: antisemitism, April 21, Berlin, cultural life, emigration, Journalism, JTA, media coverage, Nazi policies, Palestine, propaganda, segregation

SOURCE

Institution:

“Reich Authorizes Films Urging Jewish Emigration”

Collection:

Source available in English

16

SATURDAY

At-risk youth

Passover in a home for boys

Berlin

In 1938, the first day of Passover fell on April 16. As they did every year, the inhabitants of the Jewish Residential Home for Youth and Apprentices in Berlin gathered around a festively set dinner table for the second Seder. Under the dedicated management of Paul and Friedel Joseph, the home provided its charges with opportunities that went well beyond practical needs like housing and vocational training. They also strove to provide them with cultural and intellectual stimulation that would expand their horizons. The boys and young men, ranging in age from 14 to 21, had been removed from their homes due to behavioral problems. According to Friedel Joseph, life in the home was still going on “relatively unimpeded” at this point, but the political situation cannot have been lost on its inhabitants. The Passover message of liberation from bondage under a tyrannical ruler must have resonated very strongly at this year’s celebration.

TAGS: April 16, Berlin, cultural life, Jewish Community, Jewish holidays, photo, religion, welfare organizations

SOURCE

Institution:

Collection:

Heinrich Stahl Collection, AR 7171

Original:

ALB 69

15

FRIDAY

50,000 matzot

Jewish Winter Relief helps Jews keep a kosher Passover

Berlin

The special dietary requirements for the Passover week constituted an additional financial burden for German Jews, many of whom were scrambling to make ends meet. The Jewish Winter Relief Organization distributed 50,000 matzot to needy Jews and served about 1,000 guests at two seders. Donors to the organization’s Passover Appeal received a copy of Rabbi Selig Bamberger’s translation of the Haggadah with a sticker on the inside of the cover thanking them for their contribution. This photograph of holiday paraphernalia is from an album belonging to Heinrich Stahl, the president of the Berlin Jewish Community, who launched the Jewish Winter Relief Organization with Rabbi Leo Baeck in 1935.

TAGS: April 15, Berlin, impoverishment, Jewish Community, Jewish holidays, photo, prominent people, rabbis, religion, welfare organizations

SOURCE

Institution:

Heinrich Stahl Collection, AR 7171

Collection:

Original:

F 7418

13

WEDNESDAY

A special 70th birthday gift

The children from the Ahawah orphanage thank Heinrich Stahl for his commitment

Berlin

Heinrich Stahl, chairman of the Berlin Jewish Community since 1934, was heavily involved in the work of the various Jewish relief organizations, for which there was growing need as Nazism took hold. On April 13, 1938, his 70th birthday, he received a gift from the Ahawah Children’s Home, a photo album which showed the wide range of activities pursued by the charges of this exceptional institution (see March 17). The album included several photographs from the Ahawah’s new branch, which had been opened in Palestine in 1934. A heartfelt warmth and gratitude shine through this rhymed dedication thanking Stahl for his service to the community.

TAGS: April 13, Berlin, children, document, Haifa, Jewish Community, Palestine, prominent people, welfare organizations

SOURCE

Institution:

Ahawah Children's Home, Collection AR 6427

Collection:

Original:

ALB 78

12

TUESDAY

Lost in transit

German shipping companies benefit from the Jewish plight

„Besides, you notified us of the loss so late that the deadline for reporting a loss has passed. The insurance company will flatly reject compensation for any loss after such a long time.”

Berlin/London

German shipping companies profited handsomely from the dire situation of the Jews. There was no way around them for emigrants who wanted to transfer their belongings abroad. By the end of 1937, 135,000 Jews had left Germany. The events of the year 1938 led to a new upsurge. The Berlin branch of the Gustav Knauer Shipping Company handled the belongings of Lotte Doerner (née Simon). Doerner and her husband had managed to leave Germany and settle in England. When unpacking their belongings, they noticed that their linens were missing. In the letter displayed here, the company politely informs Doerner that everything the company had picked up from her apartment had also been loaded into the van, and it could not offer any compensation. The Knauer company had also been commissioned to transport many of the 20,000 objects from German art museums that were classified as “degenerate” by the regime to the infamous Munich exhibit, “Degenerate Art,” and then into storage.

TAGS: April 12, Berlin, displacement, emigration, letter, London, Munich, refugees

SOURCE

Institution:

Jüdisches Museum Berlin

Collection:

Letter from Gustav Knauer to Lotte Dorner, Dorner Collection, Gift of Steven Dorner.

11

MONDAY

Rose Luria Halprin Celebrates her Birthday

The American Zionist leader worked to rescue young German Jews through the Youth Aliyah

Jerusalem/Berlin

As a leading functionary in various Zionist organizations, most notably the Hadassah Women’s Zionist Organization of North America, Rose Luria Halprin had moved to Jerusalem in 1934, where she worked as the liaison between the local Hadassah branch and the National Office in the US. Having befriended Henrietta Szold, who led the Youth Aliyah in Palestine, Halprin, too, became involved in efforts to rescue German-Jewish youth by bringing them to Palestine. The Youth Aliyah had been founded by the prescient Recha Freier, wife of a Berlin-based rabbi, on the very day the Nazis were voted into government, January 30, 1933. In the years 1935 to 1938, Halprin repeatedly visited Berlin. April 11, 1938 was her 42nd birthday.

TAGS: April 11, Berlin, children, Jerusalem, Jewish Community, Palestine, photo, prominent people, rabbis, transnational networks, Women, Youth Aliyah, Zionism

SOURCE

Institution:

American Jewish Historical Society

Collection:

Rose Halprin in 1934. Haddassah Archives at the American Jewish HIstorical Society.

7

THURSDAY

Cutting Ties

A Berlin native leaves the Jewish community

Berlin

Was Hans Petzold, a 36 year-old native of Berlin, hoping to save himself by ending his affiliation with Judaism? Under a regime obsessed with racial purity, such measures made little difference. According to the “resignation card file” of the Berlin Jewish Community, Petzold filed to leave the Jewish religion (Judentum) on April 7, 1938. Curiously, an additional note indicates that he left the Jewish community the following month, on May 30. These files now held by the Centrum Judaicum Foundation at the Neue Synagogue in Berlin record the departures some 20,000 Berlin Jews from the faith or the community for many reasons going back to the 19th century. Some converted, some joined the orthodox secession community Adass Jisroel, and others simply moved away. After 1933, some may have hoped to escape persecution by the Nazi authorities.

TAGS: antisemitism, April 7, Berlin, document, Jewish Community, persecution, religion, Synagogues

SOURCE

Institution:

Collection:

Card indicating resignation from membership in the Jewish Community of Berlin for Hans Petzold

Original:

CJA, 2 A 1

2

SATURDAY

Repression, resilience and relief

Jewish welfare organizations alleviate suffering

Berlin

By 1938, the ability of Jews to make a living had been seriously curtailed by a series of laws aimed at humiliating, isolating, and impoverishing them. While not all Jews were affected equally by these changes, the number of Jews dependent on the services of welfare organizations, such as the Jewish Winter Relief, was constantly on the rise. The level of solidarity and the support for the Winter Relief were remarkable. Much of the money came from small donations, and the Kulturbund held cultural events in support of the organization. Volunteers from women’s and youth groups assisted in the fundraising efforts.

TAGS: April 2, Berlin, cultural life, economic persecution, impoverishment, Jewish Community, Kulturbund, Nazi laws, Nazi policies, photo, public sphere, segregation, welfare organizations, Women

SOURCE

Institution:

Photo Abraham, Speisungen, fuer viele 1000 Mark, Sammlung Heinrich Stahl, AR 7171

Collection:

Original:

F 7410

31

THURSDAY

Recommendation from Karl Bonhoeffer

Klaus' and Dietrich's father puts in a good word for a colleague

“She has extraordinary diagnostic faculties. She has a great energy for work. She is reliable and dependable in medical service. It is these qualities which won for her the admiration of the physicians at the hospital and the confidence of her patients.”

Berlin

Prof. Karl Bonhoeffer, a psychiatrist and neurologist as well as the father of two prominent opponents of the Nazi regime, Klaus and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, taught at Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin and was in charge of the Department for Mental and Neurological Diseases at the Charité Hospital. In this letter of recommendation, written in English for use in exile, Bonhoeffer praises the extraordinary achievements of his Jewish colleague, Dr. Herta Seidemann. While his attitude toward certain Nazi programs (such as the forced sterilization of carriers of certain congenital diseases and euthanasia) remains controversial, his efforts on behalf of several Jewish colleagues are indisputable.

TAGS: advocates, Berlin, emigration, letter, March 31, Nazi policies, persecution of Jewish professionals, prominent people

SOURCE

Institution:

Herta Seidemann Collection, AR 25060

Collection:

Original:

Box 1, folder 5

Source available in English

22

TUESDAY

Women’s Rights are Human Rights

The League of Jewish Women counsels young women on emigration

Berlin

Since its founding in 1904, the League of Jewish Women had worked to ensure the dignity and independence of Jewish women and especially to protect them from sexual exploitation by facilitating professional training. By 1938, another issue had come to the fore: emigration. On March 22, 1938, the Group of Professional Women within the League, represented by Dr. Käthe Mende, hosted a discussion for “female youth” about questions of career and emigration. The guest speaker was Lotte Landau-Türk, and the discussion was moderated by Prof. Cora Berliner, a former employee in the German Department of Commerce and a professor of economics who had been dismissed from public service after the Nazi rise to power in 1933.

TAGS: Berlin, document, emigration, Jewish Community, March 22, persecution of Jewish professionals, prominent people, ticket, welfare organizations, Women

SOURCE

Institution:

Collection:

Invitation to an event presented by the Group of Professional Women in the Berlin chapter of the League of Jewish Women on the topic of “Career and Emigration for Female Youth.”

Original:

CJA, 1 C Fr 1, No. 31, #9835, Bl. 32

21

MONDAY

Anneliese’s daily struggles

The correspondence of a dispersed family

“In any case, I'd advise you to approach the lady. She might be able to do something for you among her circle of acquaintances.”

Berlin / Rome

In March 1938, Anneliese Riess was living in Rome, Italy. In addition to keeping in touch with her sister, Else (see entry from February 5), she corresponded with her parents in Berlin. As in other families scattered across several countries, the letters of the Riess family deal with everyday events and practical information about emigration. With her Italian visa about to expire, Anneliese is trying to find a new safe haven. Through their network of friends, her mother has learned that there might be a position for Anneliese in Lund, Sweden. In this letter, she advises her to find out more about it.

TAGS: Berlin, emigration, family, family separation, letter, March 21, Rome, transnational networks

SOURCE

Institution:

Anneliese Riess Collection, AR 10019

Collection:

Original:

Box 1, folder 9

17

THURSDAY

House of love

A Jewish home for children in Berlin—and beyond

Berlin

The notoriously authoritarian Prussian education system had traditionally aimed for obedience and discipline, often breaking children’s wings early on. In the “Ahawah” (Hebr. for “love”) Children’s Home on Auguststraße in Berlin’s central borough, a different spirit reigned: children shared in decision-making through a “Children’s Council”, the goal being to transform them into citizens rather than subjects. Corporal punishment was forbidden and employees were encouraged to create the atmosphere of a home. Beate Berger, a nurse and head of the children’s home since 1922, took a group of children with her when she emigrated to Palestine in 1934 and returned to Germany many times in the ensuing years to rescue more children. The photos show costumed children at the Purim celebration of the children’s home.

TAGS: Berlin, children, emigration, Jewish Community, Jewish holidays, March 17, Palestine, photo, welfare organizations

SOURCE

Institution:

Ahawah Children's Home, Collection AR 6427

Collection:

Original:

ALB 78

10

THURSDAY

Preparing for Motherhood

Congregations add gender-specific gifts for girls

“The bestowal is made under the same conditions as that of the bar mitzvah gifts for the boys: upon request, congregations comprising fewer than 1000 souls receive the book free of charge.”

Berlin

In response to numerous requests, the Prussian State Association of Jewish Congregations, a voluntary association founded in 1921, decided to provide gifts to girls in parallel with the religious books given to boys upon becoming B’nai Mitzvah. While the books given to boys were aimed at deepening Jewish knowledge, the book offered to girls, Jewish Mothers by Egon Jacobsohn and Leo Hirsch, offered biographical sketches of the mothers of Jewish luminaries including Theodor Herzl, Walter Rathenau, and Heinrich Heine. As early as the the 19th century, reform-oriented synagogues in Germany began offering a collective “confirmation” for boys and girls. In some places, an individual ceremony for girls was customary, but there was no such thing as the modern bat mitzvah ceremony in 1938.

TAGS: Bar Mitzvah, Berlin, children, Jewish Community, letter, March 10, religion, Synagogues

SOURCE

Institution:

Das Digitale Bildarchiv des Bundesarchivs

Collection:

Memorandum of the Prussian State Association of Jewish Congregations to member congregations regarding gifts of books for girls on the occasion of their confirmation and graduation from school as well as bar mitzvah gifts for boys

Original:

CJA, 2 A 2, No. 2749

5

SATURDAY

Homosexual Relations with a Jew

A tennis star is arrested

Berlin

The handsome, blond, and athletic scion of a noble family in Lower Saxony, Gottfried von Cramm had all the features sought by the Nazis for propaganda purposes. Nevertheless, the two-time winner of the French Open tennis tournament (1934 and 1936) explicitly refused to be used as a poster boy for Nazi ideology and never joined the NSDAP. After repeatedly spurning opportunities to ingratiate himself with the regime, it was another issue that got him into trouble. On March 5, 1938, von Cramm was arrested under Paragraph 175 of the German penal code, which prohibited homosexual conduct. He was alleged to have had a relationship with a Galician Jew, the actor Manasse Herbst. Reformers had nearly succeeded in overturning the statute during the Weimar republic, but the Nazis tightened it after their ascent to power.

TAGS: Berlin, March 5, Nazi laws, Nazi policies, photo, prominent people, Sports, Weimar Republic

SOURCE

Institution:

Collection:

Gottfried von Cramm (l.) with Irish opponent George Lyttleton Rogers before their Davis Cup match in Berlin, June 1932.

Original:

Bild 102-13555

1

TUESDAY

Destination Uruguay

The Electrician Moses Wainstein is Montevideo-bound

Berlin

In the spring of 1938, the Berlin electrician Moses Wainstein was making arrangements to join the steady stream of Jewish emigrants. His destination was faraway Montevideo. He was planning to travel from Berlin to Marseille, where he intended to board a ship for South America. On March 1, he received the requisite French transit visa. Uruguay was regarded as a country with strong democratic traditions, little pressure on newcomers to adapt, and good job prospects for tradesmen. Jewish relief organizations and travel agencies advised prospective emigrants on choosing their new home, finding the best route possible, and procuring the required papers.

TAGS: Berlin, document, emigration, immigration procedures, March 1, Marseille, Montevideo, South America, ticket, welfare organizations

SOURCE

Institution:

Deutsches Historisches Museum

Collection:

Transit confirmation from the shipping company "Chargeurs Réunis & Sud Atlantique" for Moses Wainstein's journey through France

Original:

Inv. Nr. Do2 89/1008.6

27

SUNDAY

Three Jewish Mother Tongues

A Tel-Aviv born actor brings “new Palestinian poetry” to New York

“His Hebrew program numbers are especially likely to draw major attention, since it can safely be assumed that no actor in New York has ever rendered the Bible and modern poetry in Hebrew in so sublime a fashion.”

New York

Few among the immigrant New York audience expected to attend a trilingual event of the Theodor Herzl Society had ever encountered native speakers of modern Hebrew: Hence, it is no wonder the Aufbau assumed that the Hebrew part would constitute the greatest attraction. The featured artist of the evening, actor Albert Klar (Sklarz), born and raised in Tel Aviv, had begun his career in Berlin under renowned directors such as Reinhardt and Piscator. He had made his way to New York thanks to an invitation from the great Yiddish actor and director, Morris Schwartz, who hired him for his Yiddish Art Theater. The venue was Ansche Chesed, a synagogue on the Upper West Side founded by German immigrants.

TAGS: artists, Berlin, cultural life, February 27, Jewish Community, Journalism, Language skills, New York, Palestine, press article, prominent people, religion, Synagogues, Tel Aviv

SOURCE

Institution:

“Hebräisch-Jiddisch-Deutsch,” Aufbau, Vol. 5, no. 3, p. 4.

Collection:

21

MONDAY

Without health, no immigration

A health certificate from the Colombian embassy

Berlin/Breslau

In light of the looming danger, a young jazz musician from Breslau, Werner Dambitsch, considered various options for emigration. Like many others, he viewed Cuba, a destination for which it was significantly easier to obtain a visa, as a “waiting room” on the way to the final destination for many, the United States. While his application for immigration to Cuba was being processed, Dambitsch, to be on the safe side, seems to also have applied for a visa at the Colombian Embassy in Berlin. The document presented here is a doctor’s notice written by the doctor of the Colombian Embassy and attesting the perfect health of the prospective emigrant, one of the indispensable preconditions for receiving a visa.

TAGS: Berlin, Breslau, emigration, February 21, immigration procedures, medical record, musicians, South America

SOURCE

Institution:

Werner Dambitsch Collection, AR 11719

Collection:

17

THURSDAY

“Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine!”

Children set out on their journeys to Palestine with Youth Aliyah

“Joy and pain are fighting against each other, as are courage and fear, mourning and hopefulness. One cries, the other laughs. Here the pain of separation is stronger, there the self-painted picture of the future outshines all grief of separation.”

Berlin

Immediately after the Nazis seized power, on January 30, 1933, Berlin-based Recha Freier founded the Jüdische Jugendhilfe (“Committee for the Assistance of Jewish Youth”) soon to be known as Jugend-Alija (“Youth Aliyah”). The organization’s goal was to bring Jewish children past the age of elementary school to safety in Palestine. In the youth supplement of the Israelitisches Familienblatt of February 17, 1938, the children’s feelings are described as they depart for Palestine: Not only did they have to cope with the separation from their parents and families, but also with the uncertainty about their future.

TAGS: Berlin, children, emigration, family separation, February 17, Journalism, media coverage, Palestine, press article, refugees, welfare organizations, Youth Aliyah, Zionism

SOURCE

Institution:

“Aufbruch der Jugend”, B1032

Collection:

Original:

Vol. 4, no. 2

16

WEDNESDAY

25 Pfennige

Jewish Winter Relief alleviates poverty with a small raise in statutory fees among Germany's Jews

“In certain communities in those districts the destitute total is between 40 to 90 per cent of the total Jewish population. This is partly explicable by the fact that rural communities are especially open to the full force of the anti-semitic propaganda machine.”

Berlin

In mid-February 1938, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, for years an attentive observer of the situation of German Jews, reports once again on the precarious position of Jews in Germany and the struggle of the Jewish Winter Relief to do justice to the acute needs of the community’s poorest. While the new, obligatory contribution addressed ongoing needs and made it easier to survive the winter, the numerous laws imposed by the Nazis since 1933 that banned Jews from various professions lead to an irreversible deterioration of their material situation.

TAGS: antisemitism, Berlin, economic persecution, February 16, impoverishment, Journalism, JTA, media coverage, Nazi laws, Nazi policies, persecution of Jewish professionals, welfare organizations

SOURCE

Institution:

“Reich Jews Ask Increased Funds for Relief”

Collection:

Source available in English

13

SUNDAY

Between deceit, lies and propaganda

The future of Germany's Jews according to the SS

“In 20 years Germany will be free of the bulk of its Jewish population, Das Schwarze Korps, organ of Chancellor Hitler’s elite guards, declares in its current issue in a leading article accusing the Jews of not wanting to emigrate.”

Berlin

In early 1938, a variety of assumptions regarding the future of the Jews circulated. The official SS organ Das Schwarze Korps (The Black Corps), for example, surmises that after the exclusion of Jews from “the spiritual and political life of the nation,” the physical separation from the majority of Jews within about twenty years will be no chimera. According to this notice disseminated by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), Das Schwarze Korps, claims that the Jews are not willing to leave Germany and that the “small number” of Jewish emigrants should not be ascribed to “foreign exchange and other problems” but rather to the unwillingness of Jews in other countries to “lift a finger to give the emigrants or would-be emigrants a home.” In fact, by 1937, as many as 130,000 (out of a total of 600,000) Jews had left the country.

TAGS: antisemitism, Berlin, displacement, emigration, February 13, Journalism, JTA, media coverage, propaganda, refugees

SOURCE

Institution:

“Nazi Organ Sees Germany Free of Jews in 20 Years”

Collection:

Source available in English

5

SATURDAY

Career change

Archeologist seeking work as a nurse

“I remembered an old acquaintance and wrote a letter which was answered very nicely, and I hope he'll get in touch with me within the next few days. I'd like to hear some advice regarding our old man and old lady and the like [...].”

Turin/Rome

In this short missive from Turin, written in a casual, sisterly tone to her sister Anneliese in Rome, Elsa Riess communicates her worries about their parents, who have remained in Berlin. Elsa is concerned about her father’s employment situation and declares her intention to find out about possible ways to help their parents, from whom she hasn’t heard for a while. Anneliese had come to Italy in 1933 to study archeology, earning her PhD in 1936. Because of her own uncertain material situation, she was not in a position to help her parents financially. Unemployable as a foreigner in Italy and hoping to increase her opportunities by adding a practical skill, she had decided to take a course as a baby and child nurse in Geneva in 1937.

TAGS: Berlin, displacement, economic persecution, emigration, family, family separation, February 5, Geneva, impoverishment, letter, refugees, Rome, Turin

SOURCE

Institution:

Anneliese Riess Collection, AR 10019

Collection:

Original:

Box 1, folder 9

Chronology of major events in 1938

Law on Alteration of Family and Personal Names

Page from a ledger book of the Gesellschaft der Freunde in Berlin, 1792 - 1793.

The new Law on Alteration of Family and Personal Names regulates the change of names of German citizens and individuals without citizenship who live in the German Reich. The law empowers the Interior Minister to issue rules concerning given names and unilaterally change those names that do not conform to the rules, including names which were changed before the Nazis seizure of power in 1933. This primarily affects assimilated Jews who adopted less apparently Jewish names, which the Nazis viewed as an attempt to camouflage their Jewishness. The new law is the Nazis’ first step toward marking Jews by forcing them to adopt ‘typical’ Jewish names.

View chronology of major events in 1938

4

FRIDAY

Atmosphere of hopelessness

A once-celebrated public health official writes in his diary

„One company after another founded by Jews is ,aryanized‘ – so goes the euphemistic term; Jews are being forced out of the other businesses and pushed into the arms of the welfare agencies. The Sperrmark is rising uncontrollably, so that the emigration of the few capitalists is being made even harder.“

Berlin

“May you continue for a long time to be granted the opportunity to dedicate your tried and tested skills to the welfare and benefit of the city.” With these words, Berlin mayor Heinrich Sahm congratulated Prof. Erich Seligmann, Director of Scientific Institutes at the Public Health Department and an eminent authority on issues of public health, on his 25th year of service in 1932. Barely half a year later, in March 1933, Seligmann was dismissed, despite his recognized scientific achievements and his outstanding knowledge in the field of epidemics control, which he had demonstrated inter alia as a staff surgeon in World War I. In this diary entry dated February 4, 1938, Seligmann writes about “widespread confiscation of passports from Jews” and “an atmosphere of hopelessness.” Seligmann was planning a trip to Rome, where he and his wife Elsa hoped to meet their son Rolf.

TAGS: Aryanization, Berlin, commentary, diary, economic persecution, family, family separation, February 4, persecution of Jewish professionals, prominent people, Rome, WWI, WWI veteran

SOURCE

Institution:

Erich Seligmann Collection, AR 4104

Collection:

Original:

DM 79, Diary 2

30

SUNDAY

No Reward for Patriotism

The Nazis suspend the newspaper of the Central Association of German Citizens of Jewish Faith.

“The paper is the second Jewish organ to be suspended within a week.”

Berlin

The C.V.-Zeitung, Paper for German and Jewish Culture was the organ of the “Central Association of German Citizens of Jewish Faith.” The Central Association’s political bent was liberal-conservative and it strove to represent the interests of all Jews, regardless of religious affiliation. The newspaper aimed to raise the self-confidence of German Jews as well as to deepen their love of “both German and Jewish culture.” (Jüdisches Lexikon 1927). January 30, 1938 was the last day of ordinary operations for the C.V.-Zeitung. On the 31st, the Nazis ordered its temporary suspension until February 24 with no reason given.

TAGS: antisemitism, Berlin, January 30, Jewish Community, Journalism, JTA, media coverage, Nazi policies, persecution, politics

SOURCE

Institution:

Collection:

“C.v. Zeitung Suspended”

Source available in English

29

SATURDAY

Religion, culture and the struggle for human dignity

Synagogues adapt to the changing needs of Jewish life.

Berlin

This drawing shows the interior of the Prinzregentenstraße Synagogue in Berlin (Wilmersdorf). Built in 1930, the building was designed to fulfill the needs of a liberal congregation. As shown in the picture, the synagogue boasted a magnificent organ. Rabbi Leo Baeck gave the sermon at the opening ceremony. From 1933, when Jews began to be pushed out of Germany’s cultural life, the synagogue also became a Jewish cultural center.

TAGS: art, Berlin, cultural life, January 29, Jewish Community, prominent people, public sphere, rabbis, religion, segregation, Synagogues

SOURCE

Institution:

"Synagogue Prinzregentenstrasse." Werner Stein Collection, AR 10775

Collection:

Original:

2005.87

23

SUNDAY

The American dream

A Jew who has taken the leap calls upon a friend to follow suit.

“My most beautiful dream is that all the people I like should live near me.”

New York/Berlin

As the number of Jewish emigrants from Germany was constantly growing, so was the number of letters exchanged between friends and relatives who had already left and those who stayed behind. In his handwritten letter from January 23, Mikloś Ehrenfeld suggests to his friend Kunibert in Berlin that it would be a good idea for him to leave Germany in spite of his good position and come to America, as Ehrenfeld himself did. Self-actualization and the fulfillment of personal dreams, Ehrenfeld wrote, were possible in America but hopeless in Germany.

TAGS: Berlin, displacement, emigration, January 23, letter, New York, refugees

SOURCE

Institution:

Rolf David Collection, AR 6994

Collection:

22

SATURDAY

Victory of the underdog

The theater of the Berliner Kulturbund features a powerless hero who wins over his antagonist.

Berlin

With Adolphe Adam’s comic opera “If I were King” and Ladislaus Bus-Fekete’s “Cape of Good Hope,” the Berlin Kulturbund offered its guests lighthearted distractions. The Jewish audience in Berlin in 1938 must have been receptive to an opera in which the powerless but honest hero wins and the bad guy gets his well-deserved punishment.

TAGS: advertisement, artists, Berlin, cultural life, January 22, Jewish Community, Kulturbund, musicians, public sphere, segregation

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Kulturbundbühne (Berlin): Kulturbund deutscher Juden, MF B1080

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Original:

Vol. 6, no. 1: 11

20

THURSDAY

The “Harrods of Berlin”

Nathan Israel's department store

Berlin

This picture-postcard shows Berlin’s oldest and for some time largest department store, named after the founder of the business, Nathan Israel. The Israel family had taken up residence in Berlin in the 18th century. The business was last located at 28 Spandauer Straße, across from the Rotes Rathaus (“Red City Hall”). Under its last director, Wilfrid Israel, the department store distinguished itself by providing uncommonly generous benefits to its employees, such as health and social insurance.

TAGS: Berlin, economic persecution, January 20, postcard

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