The Gestapo and German Society: Enforcing Racial Policy 1933-1945 (22 page)

Almost overnight, many small Jewish communities came to an end, and, in the words of the leading administrative officer for Lower Franconia, the villages and small towns became 'free of Jews [judenrein]'.55
Ophir and Wie- semann's chronology of events in the small communities makes the scope of the catastrophe clear. The sixteen Jews who lived in Adelsberg (total population about 370) until the pogrom left the village within a month, never to return. Back in 191 o Jews made up just over 11 per cent of the population there, had their own synagogue, butcher, teacher, and ritual bath. During the pogrom uniformed Nazi Party members from outside the village itself showed up and broke the windows of the synagogue and Jewish homes; the next day the SA arrived from nearby Gemunden and, in small groups, broke into Jewish homes and destroyed the synagogue's interior. These events 'were played out in the presence of numerous village inhabitants'."
Burgpreppach counted a Jewish community of 126 in 1910 (just over 22 per cent of the village population); by 1933 the figures were already reduced to 78, and at the beginning of 1938 54 still hung on. During the pogrom the SA came from nearby Bamberg, apparently making the rounds of small Jewish com
munities in the area, along with some of the local Nazi zealots, broke into the main building of the Jewish community (containing synagogue, school, and teacher's residence), and at high noon set fire to it, including all its furniture and the sacred books and scrolls. By 1 January 1940 only seven Jews remained in the villages'
In Schollkrippen near Alzenau the forty-four Jews resident in the town on the day of the pogrom left for ever within the week.58

Numerous other small communities in Lower Franconia experienced a similar exodus. Worth mentioning are the places where the numbers dropped off virtually to zero by the end of 1939, as in Burgsinn; Ebelsbach; Eschau; Fechenbach; Geldersheim; Gemunden; Geroldshausen; Gnodstadt; GoBmannsdorf a.M.; GroBlangheim; Grof3ostheim; Hammelburg; He6dorf; Hochberg; Hofheim i.UFr.; Horstein; Hosbach; Huttenheim i.Bay.; Karlstadt; Kleinbardorf; Kleinheubach; Kleinlangheim; Kleinwallstadt; Klingenberg a.M.; Lendershausen; Liilsfeld; Mainbernheim; Marktheidenfeld; Marktsteft; Memmelsdorf i.UFr.; Mittelstreu; Oberaltertheim; Reckendorf; Rimpar; Schonungen; Sommerau; Sommerhausen; Tauberretttersheim; Veit- shochheim; Wasserlos; Westheim; Willmars.59
Jews either emigrated or sought refuge in the anonymity of bigger cities.

Even when a Jewish community was not wiped out, the events of the pogrom were dramatic and horrendous. In Oberthulba (population 821 in 1933) the number of Jews had declined by 1937 to just 31. The detailed police report of the pogrom there indicates that it began only late, on 10 November. 'Civilians' smashed in the windows of Jewish homes, broke into some, and demolished or plundered virtually everything in them. According to the police report, when on the morning of 11 November the pogrom of the night before was discussed in the village 'the population to an extent agreed that for once the teeth should be shown to the Jews and their property, in part, destroyed'. Some people were 'opposed, however, to some shady elements who used the action for their own advantage and who stole furniture and such from Jewish houses'. Two men were subsequently arrested and later released. Both were considered by the local policeman to be 'unreliable' because of their association with the Communist Party before
The pogrom was not so brutal and destructive everywhere, but virtually every community in which Jews still resided by November 1938 experienced it. Thus, there is evidence of the action directed at Jews, their property, or that of the Jewish community in villages such as Acholshausen, which had but two, as did Allersheim and Arnstein; Biitthart had five; Eschau two; Euerbach four; Fechenbach two; Geldersheim three; Gochsheim seven; Goimannsdorf five; Hessdorf six; Hosbach five; Liilsfeld nine; Marktsteft three; and Rodelsee
had six.'
A large percentage of these people had stayed on because of their advanced years, and because they could imagine few alternatives.

Where larger numbers of Nazi Party, SA, and SS members could be gathered together and directed, as in the bigger urban centres, the brutalities and destruction of property were that much more extensive. The events in Aschaffenburg, according to a detailed local police report, took a particularly nasty turn. The city's population (which stood at 36,260 in 1933, 591 of them Jewish-reduced to 339 in the period up to the pogrom) witnessed the complete destruction of the synagogue through a fire that began early in the night of 1 o November. Events there seem to have been inspired, as everywhere else, by orders to the local Party from Munich. The message must have been sent very late on 9 November or early the next morning, because the Wi rzburg Gestapo telephoned at 2.3o a.m. to tell local police (the ordinary police as well as the Gestapo and SD branches) what to do during the `action'. Wanton destruction was perpetrated on at least four Jewish businesses, including a department store and restaurant, and the windows of apartments were broken; someone threw two fire-bombs into one residence. These acts were carried out by large groups of roving bands (no figures are mentioned) moving through the city. Four people were brought in by police when caught plundering. By noon on Io November more police had to be assigned to watch the many people gathered on several streets in the inner city.

In the course of events in Aschaffenburg two Jewish men were beaten and shot by the SA. One of the Jews; a 6i-year-old man, was led through town, beaten, and shot three times in the stomach; he died five days later. One account says that the subsequent trial of the SA men who were responsible was eventually dropped on the intervention of the Wiirzburg Gestapo.62
Besides the open violence, an estimated thirty Jewish men were arrested and eventually sent to Dachau. The events spilled over into the nearby village of Goldbach (population 3,569 in 1933, of which 38 were Jews); it took until 7.00 p.m. on io November for the pogrom to reach there. By then an estimated 400-500 'citizens' went on a rampage that lasted until early the next morning. Once again, the synagogue was demolished, windows in the homes of Jews smashed, and the interiors wrecked. Similar events, involving 'about 1,000' persons, took place an hour later in neighbouring GroBostheim (population 3,840 in 1933, 28 of them Jews). In Hosbach (population 3,376 in 1933, of whom 15 were Jews) the actions aimed at the few Jews who remained in town began late on 9 November, and were stopped with difficulty, but not before some plundering had taken place. The uproar dragged on until
i i November, when the community's four gendarmes finally restored order at 3.00 a.m.63

In the city of Bad Kissingen (population 8,579 in 1933, of whom 344 were Jews) and surrounding area a torrent of brutality and destruction overwhelmed the Jewish population. The numbers of Jews in the city had already been reduced by two-thirds, and stood at only 103 on the day of the pogrom; many of these were elderly people. At 2.0o a.m. the 'action' began with the burning of the synagogue and the building of the Jewish motor-car dealer; both fires were put out an hour later, but not before massive destruction. The store windows of Jewish businesses were all smashed, as were those of their apartments and homes. Altogether, some fourteen businesses were destroyed or heavily damaged; besides the synagogue, two other buildings owned by the Jewish community were affected. At 7.3o a.m. on Io November the order police in Bad Kissingen were notified by the Wurzburg police of the 'spontaneous demonstrations' which were taking place in all of Germany. They were advised to check with the Gestapo and NSDAP leaders to ascertain exactly when and where the local 'actions' would break out. Only a small contingent of police, in civilian clothes, was to accompany the 'demonstrators' in order to prevent plundering, to put seals on the destroyed property of the Jews, and so forth. Because of anxiety that fires might get out of hand, the fire department was to be informed. Arson was to be prevented, even of Jewish buildings. Besides the destruction of property, twenty-eight Jews were placed in 'protective custody' on the orders of City Commissioner Dr Conrath, 'in order to prevent excesses from the aroused mass'.64

The pattern that was repeated in towns and villages where Jews could still be found throughout the district around Bad Kissingen (as elsewhere) seems to have involved the arrival of a large group of non-resident demonstrators, who promptly set upon local Jews and their property. This was precisely the case, for example, in Mal3bach (population 1,307 in 1933, of whom 34 were Jews). According to the gendarme, a `large group' arrived on motor bikes after midnight on the night of 1 o-11 November; the windows of eight Jewish buildings were broken and the synagogue demolished. Four apartments were totally gutted and destroyed in renewed demonstrations on the evening of 1o November. In Poppenlauer (population 1,616 in 1933, of whom 45 were Jews) a group of sixty demonstrators showed up from out of town, destroyed the synagogue's interior, and attacked the property of local Jews. In Steinach a.d. Saale (population 811 in 1933, of whom 39 were Jews) the `action' commenced only at midnight on 1o-11 November (the reason for the delay is not known). Upon the arrival of a more radical local Nazi who worked in Schweinfurt, however, the Nazis in town resolved to take the necessary
action, all the more so as they were worried about being out of step with events elsewhere. After attacking Jewish residences and the synagogue, according to the police report, the 'demonstrators quietly retired at about 1.3o a.m.'. He added that the events were 'received with satisfaction' by the local population.'5

The events in Wurzburg itself were massive in scope, well organized, and destructive. Around midnight on 9 November word came to NSDAP Kreisleiter Knaup (probably from Gauleiter Hellmuth, who was in Munich for the Party's festivities) concerning the 'spontaneous' actions that would be breaking out against the Jews. In accordance with instructions from Berlin, a meeting was held at Gestapo headquarters to work out the details of the responsibilities of Party, Gestapo, Kripo, and ordinary police. Knaup began assembling his local Party bosses (Ortsgruppenleiter), in so far as he could get hold of them in the middle of the night. He managed to collect six of them and gave instructions by telephone to one more, but three or four others could not be reached. The 81st SS Standard in Wurzburg was apparently given the order already at 3.i o a.m. to burn the synagogue in the Domer- schulstrasse, but did not do so for fear of damage to surrounding buildings. The interior of the building was ransacked. The synagogue in neighbouring Heidingsfeld was not spared the torch. Word reached the ordinary police in Wurzburg at 7.3o a.m. from Kurt Daleuge, its chief in Berlin, who said that the police should accompany the demonstrations in civilian garb, but that the Gestapo would take care of arrests."

As ordered, the Ortsgruppe of the NSDAP from Wurzburg south appeared at Too a.m. in strength at the local football field. Its leader, Martin Neef, divided the 8oo-i,ooo men into large squads, assigned specific targets, and set them to work. Evidently not all of those assembled agreed with the `tasks', or perhaps they were just not in the mood for such vigorous activity at such an early hour, and baulked at following orders. But hesitation was overcome and the mobs set out in the early morning. Whether all the other NSDAP groups managed this show of numbers cannot be ascertained, but if the participation of the SA and SS is also assumed, there can be little doubt that several thousand men were running amok in Wurzburg at a time when most citizens would have been able to see and hear them in action. Aschaffenburg, a city about one-third the size of Wurzburg, managed to mobilize a thousand, and, as already indicated, even small outlying villages were visited by mobs several hundred strong.

Among the fatalities in Wurzburg was a man who died after jumping through the window of his home to avoid the mob. An old man who was hauled from his bed and beaten died of his injuries the next day. One account
suggests that three women committed suicide as a direct result of the pogrom
.61 Approximately 290 Jews from Wurzburg and the surrounding area were sent either to Buchenwald or Dachau.6s
In Germany as a whole some 91 Jews were murdered in the course of the pogrom, while several hundred died after about 30,000 Jews were shipped to various concentration camps; an estimated 36 people were seriously injured or committed suicide; 267 synagogues were burnt or destroyed; 7,500 businesses were wrecked and/or plundered; all Jewish cemeteries were also damaged; total property damage was in the range of 25 million marks.61

Anyone relying for information on the local newspapers would hardly guess just how dramatic the pogrom had been in Wurzburg. One, the General Anzeiger, reported on 1 o November that the Wurzburg population had become so outraged at the assassination in Paris that `spontaneous actions' took place in revenge; the next day it added information on the fates of the synagogues and other property damage. 'Thousands of persons', it said, `wandered through the streets to reach the synagogue in order to see the work of destruction.' The Mainfrankische Zeitung, the local organ of the NSDAP, used the same bland phrases about the `deep anger' of the German people. The Frdnkisches Volksblatt virtually repeated that account word for word. The monthly report sent to Munich by Lower Franconia's leading administrative official calmly remarked that the 'atonement', and especially the imposition of a fine on the Jews of Germany, `was generally approved'."

In the days and weeks that followed, official measures aimed at the Jews were issued with greater zeal than ever. These flowed from a gathering of top Reich ministers on 12 November, which Goring had called to deal with the matter. Not only were the Jews collectively fined one billion marks to pay for the damages, but conference participants tried to outdo each other in suggesting ways to restrict the freedom of movement of the Jews. Special efforts were undertaken to remove Jews from the economy. The `Aryanization' process was greatly accelerated, and led in some instances to a scramble for the spoils. For example, when the 3,700 or so Jewish-owned retail firms of all sizes in Berlin were confiscated, a report from the City President's office recorded that `on the whole the impression created by Aryanization is not pleasing': there were at least three or four applicants for each business."