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The Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin presents the year 1938 through the eyes of Jews, whose personal documents detail their experiences and the hardships they suffered as well as the growing tensions in Europe and diminishing hope for Jews in Germany and Austria.

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16

SUNDAY

16

The noose tightens

The Reichsvertretung der Deutschen Juden appeals to the government

A considerable part of Jewry in Germany, in which older classes predominate, is incapable of emigrating and will end its days in Germany. If it is not to become a burden on the public welfare system, means for obtaining a livelihood must not be completely closed to it. Even the continuation of ordered emigration—and only that keeps the emigrating doors open—is possible only if the economic existence basis of Jews in Germany is not further curtailed.

Berlin

The “Reichsvertretung der Deutschen Juden” (Reich Representation of German Jews) was established in Berlin in September 1933 as an advocacy group. After the passing of the Nuremberg Laws, it had to change its name to “Reichsvertretung der Juden in Deutschland” (Reich Representation of Jews in Germany). Its president was Rabbi Leo Baeck. As a result of the increasing pauperization of the Jewish population, whose possibilities to earn a living were systematically taken away, the Reichsvertretung appealed to the government in January 1938 to desist from additional limitations depriving Jewish professionals of their jobs. The Reichsvertretung argued that not only was the increasing unemployment a burden on the welfare system, but it also made emigration impossible.

TAGS: advocates, antisemitism, Berlin, economic persecution, emigration, impoverishment, January 16, Journalism, JTA, media coverage, persecution of Jewish professionals, prominent people, rabbis, welfare organizations

SOURCE

Institution:

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Collection:

"Reich Jews Appeal to Government Against Further Economic Curbs"

Source available in English

14

FRIDAY

14

Staged normalcy

The Berlin Jewish Community: Between practical and intellectual needs

Berlin

The January issue of the Berlin Kulturbund magazine conveys a sense of normalcy—local businesses advertise merchandise and services like cosmetics, women’s apparel and car repairs, while the Kulturbund schedule offers Eugene Scribe’s “The Ladies’ Battle.” The comedy must have provided a welcome respite from the worrisome situation.

TAGS: advertisement, Berlin, cultural life, January 14, Jewish Community, Journalism, Kulturbund, public sphere, segregation

SOURCE

Institution:

Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin

Collection:

Kulturbundbühne (Berlin): Kulturbund deutscher Juden, MF B1080

Original:

Vol. 6, no.1

11

TUESDAY

11

“Who won’t betray us in the end?”

Theater becomes the last cultural resort

Berlin

As German Jews were getting arrested or being forced to leave the country, the performances put on by the local branches of the Jewish Kulturbund (Culture Association) were among the few places of refuge where Jews could enjoy culture as in earlier days. Among other things, in the winter season of 1937/1938 the Jüdischer Kulturbund Berlin performed Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin (Director: Dr. Kurt Singer) and Scribe’s The Ladies’ Battle (Director: Fritz Wisten). Since 1935, the Kulturbund’s venue had been the theater at 57 Kommandantenstrasse, the former Herrnfeld Theater, where popular Jewish plays had once been staged.

TAGS: advertisement, artists, Berlin, cultural life, January 11, Jewish Community, Journalism, Kulturbund, musicians, prominent people, public sphere, segregation

SOURCE

Institution:

Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin

Collection:

Kulturbundbühne (Berlin): Kulturbund deutscher Juden, MF B1080

Original:

Vol. 6, no. 1: 3

10

MONDAY

10

One-way ticket

The travel agency on Meineke Street: South America, Columbia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, and Chile

“To South America (West Coast), Columbia-Equador-Bolivia-Peru-Chile”

Berlin

If advertisements in newspapers reflect the main needs of society, then the Berlin Jüdisches Gemeindeblatt (Jewish Community Paper) from January 1938 can serve as a perfect example of such needs in times of crisis. By January 1938, when the majority of German Jews were preparing for emigration or actively looking for ways to leave the country, advertisements for travel agencies and shipping companies dominated the commercial space of the newspaper. The main destinations of German-Jewish emigrants were Palestine as well as North- and South America.

TAGS: advertisement, Berlin, emigration, January 10, Jewish Community, Journalism, Palestine, South America

SOURCE

Institution:

Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin

Collection:

Gemeindeblatt der Jüdischen Gemeinde zu Berlin, MF B427/ 1

Original:

Vol. 28, no. 2: 7

7

FRIDAY

7

Improvisation impinged

Werner Dambitsch and his “Excentric [sic] Jazz Orchester”

This ID grants permission to participate in Jewish events. The holder is permitted to work, but the Reich Association does not guarantee employment.   

Breslau/ Berlin

Werner Wilhelm Dambitsch was born on June 23, 1913 in Breslau (today Wroclaw, Poland). Werner was interested in music from an early age, but he had to purchase his first instrument, a saxophone, with money he had earned himself. He did this in 1932 at the age of 19 and founded with four friends the ‘Excentric [sic] Jazz Orchester’. In order to perform, the combo had to join the “Reichsverband der jüdischen Kulturbünde in Deutschland” (Reich Association of Jewish Cultural Federations) and was forced to change the name to “Erstes Jüdisches Jazz-Orchester” (First Jewish Jazz Orchestra). While the association did not guarantee steady income or employment, at least it allowed the artists to perform at events attended by Jewish audiences. This image shows Werner Dambitsch’s Kulturbund membership card.

TAGS: Berlin, Breslau, cultural life, document, ID, January 7, Kulturbund, musicians, Nazi laws, Nazi policies, public sphere, segregation

SOURCE

Institution:

Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin

Collection:

Werner Dambitsch Collection, AR 11719

1

SATURDAY

1

Mutual aid for the dispossessed

The Jewish Winter Relief Organization

“No one should suffer hunger and cold. Give to the best of your ability with a joyous heart.”

Berlin

After the passing of the Nuremberg Laws in 1935, Jews were excluded from the support of the “Winter Relief Agency of the German People” and had to organize their own relief agency. Nazi legislation was making it more and more difficult for Jews in Germany to earn a living. The Jewish Winter Relief Organization stepped into the breach and assisted impoverished members of the community with food, medicine, and heating fuel. The photo was taken at a concert for the benefit of the Jewish Winter Relief.

TAGS: Berlin, cultural life, impoverishment, January 1, musicians, Nazi laws, Nazi policies, photo, welfare organizations

SOURCE

Institution:

Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin

Collection:

Heinrich Stahl Collection, AR 7171

Original:

F 7401

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