"Non-Germans" Under the Third Reich (160 page)

17.
Cf. Walk,
Als Jude in Breslau
(1975), 59 f. (“Then, wearing the ‘ornament’ of the Star of David, [I] went to the Storch synagogue; I wanted to go at all costs on that day, so that no one could say I had stayed away out of cowardice; I walked the whole way, and people’s behavior generally was beyond reproach; no one bothered me; rather, one got the impression that people felt awkward…. With regard to our insignia, people on the street—and there was quite a crowd out that day—behaved absolutely correctly. The insignia had the opposite effect to that intended by the government”).

18.
Notification concerning the Identification of Jewish Dwellings of March 26, 1942 (
Jüdisches Nachrichtenblatt
of April 3, 1942, quoted in Blau,
Das Ausnahmerecht für die Juden in Deutschland
, no. 375).

19.
Walk,
Als Jude in Breslau
, 10.

20.
Ibid., 78 f.; see also part 1, section 1, VII (“Commercial and Property Law”), note 63.

21.
Instruction of the president of the Reich Chamber of Culture of January 14, 1938, which prohibited Jews from attending all cultural events, quoted in Ostler,
Die deutschen Rechtsanwälte
(1971), 245. Decree circulated by Reich minister of the interior on Jews in public baths and spas, June 16, 1939 (
MinbliV
[1939]: 129 ff.).

22.
Instruction of the
Reichsführer
-SS of fall 1939, quoted in Party Chancellery circular 206/39 of October 30, 1939 (no exact date given), in
Verfügungen
, 2:130 f.; according to Walk,
Als Jude In Breslau
, 62, the curfew began at 8
P.M
.

23.
Temporary instruction of the
Reichsführer
-SS and chief of the German police, December 3, 1938, quoted in Kluge and Krüger,
Verfassung und Verwaltung
(1941), 221.

24.
RGBl.
I 1676, 1704.

25.
In Berlin the authority responsible—the chief of police—had brought in the “Jew ban” for (a) all theaters, cinemas, cabarets, fairgrounds, exhibition centers, the
Deutschlandhalle
, the
Reichssportsfeld
, all sports stadia, and railways; (b) public and private bathing facilities and openair swimming pools; (c) Wilhelmstraße from Leipziger Straße to Unter den Linden and Wilhelms-Platz; (d) Voßstraße from Hermann-Göring-Straße to Wilhelmstraße; (e) the Reich War Memorial with the northern sidewalk of Unter den Linden, from the university to the Zeughaus (quoted in Kluge and Krüger,
Verfassung und Verwaltung
, 221; the date of the corresponding instructions is not given).

26.
Walk,
Als Jude in Breslau
, 19, 52, 54, describes in great detail how Jewish apartments were viewed daily by “the curious.” Those Jews with less attractive apartments were the fortunate ones, for if anyone took a liking to an apartment, he or she would be allocated it by the authorities (44).

27.
Ibid., 50.

28.
Letter from
Reichsführer
-SS and chief of the German police to Reich ministers and head of the Reich Chancellery of February 3, 1939 (BA R 43 II/1482 b).

29.
Cf. handwritten letter from Reich Minister and Head of the Reich Chancellery H. H. Lammers to the Reich minister of the interior, March 9, 1933; Lammers advocated among other things a ban on immigration of Eastern Jews (
Ostjuden
), “which could perhaps be justified on grounds of demographic policy and hygiene laws,” as well as the expulsion of some of the nonnaturalized Eastern Jews; for the latter administrative measures would suffice (Nuremberg doc., PS-901, quoted in Bracher, Sauer, and Schulz,
Die nationalsozialistische Machtergreifung
, 280 n. 96).

30.
Sächs. Prussian Administrative Supreme Court of November 20, 1937,
JW
(1938): 704. (Guiding principle: “Arts. 2 and 9 of the Law on Expulsions from the Reich. In view of the threat to the purity of the German race, foreigners of alien races can be expelled from the Reich.”)

31.
Letter from
Reichsführer
-SS and chief of the German police to Reich minister and head of the Reich Chancellery, October 20, 1938; memorandum of Reich minister and head of the Reich Chancellery, December 10, 1938 (BA R 43 II/1482 b).

32.
Letter from
Reichsführer
-SS and chief of the German police to Reich minister and head of the Reich Chancellery, February 3, 1939, and memorandum of Reich minister and head of the Reich Chancellery, February 8, 1939 (BA R 43 II/1482 b).

33.
RGBl.
I 547.

34.
Secret decree circulated by the Reich minister of the interior, February 16, 1942, quoted in
Verfügungen
, 2:132 f.

35.
Sec. 2 of the decree of September 1, 1941 (
RGBl.
I 547), and guidelines of October 10, 1941 (quoted in Blau,
Das Ausnahmerecht für die Juden in Deutschland
, no. 339, 91 ff.); cf. also instructions of the Reich minister of traffic of September 18, 1941, that regulate use of the
Reichsbahn
and
Reichspost
(railroad and postal services) in the event that permission is granted (no. 336).

36.
Secret decree circulated by the Reich minister of the interior, February 16, 1942 (Blau,
Das Ausnahmerecht für die Juden in Deutschland
, no. 336).

37.
No. 23 of the Guidelines on the Implementation of the Decree on the Identification of Jews,
Jüdisches Nachrichtenblatt
of October 10, 1941, quoted in BVerfGE, 6, 132 ff., 191.

38.
Jüdisches Nachrichtenblatt
of July 10, 1942, quoted in BVerfGE, 6, 132 ff., 191; the decree in question must be that issued by the Reich minister of traffic, disclosed in confidential information 48/648 dated July 7, 1942 (
Verfügungen
, 2:135; date of actual decree not specified). According to the letter from the
Reichsstatthalter
of Posen to the
Regierungspräsidenten
(district presidents) of July 14, 1942, the decree dates from July 6, 1942 (State Archive Pozna
,
Reichsstatthalter
1218, Bl. 79).

39.
Guidelines issued by the Reich minister of the interior on October 10, 1941, quoted in Blau,
Das Ausnahmerecht für die Juden in Deutschland
, no. 339, 91 ff.

40.
See also administrative decree of Reich minister of traffic, July 13, 1942 (
RVerwBl.
/B [1942]: 119), requiring “the most stringent checks” when issuing insignias for the blind to Jews and supervising their use.

41.
Express letter of the Reich Ministry of the Interior (signed Heydrich) of October 16, 1941, Az. Pol. S IV B 4 b, 940/41, 37 (quoted after Blau,
Das Ausnahmerecht für die Juden in Deutschland
, 91 ff.). According to the administrative decree of July 13, 1942, overland postal bus services “should carry only Jews with permits when seating is available. If necessary, Jews will be obliged to leave buses at intermediate stops to allow other passengers to travel. Tickets already paid for should be refunded proportionally, without retaining the special administrative costs” (no. 4). “Jews may occupy only seats not required by other passengers.” (no. 5) (
RVerwBl.
/B [1942]: 119).

42.
Cf. administrative decree of March 24, 1942 (reproduced in
Verfügungen
, 2:133 f.; publicized by
Jüdisches Nachrichtenblatt
of April 24, 1942, quoted in Blau,
Das Ausnahmerecht für die Juden in Deutschland
, no. 337).

43.
Supplement (no date), published in
Jüdisches Nachrichtenblatt
of May 8, 1942, quoted in Blau,
Das Ausnahmerecht für die Juden in Deutschland
, no. 379.

44.
Cf. discussion on November 12, 1938, among various Reich departments in the Reich Air Ministry (Nuremberg doc., PS-1816 [ZS, Versch. 6/1783 ff., copy]); letter from the chairman of the Ministerial Council for the Defense of the Reich (Göring) to the chief of the Security Police and the SD, July 31, 1941, which repeats the order already issued in the decree of January 24, 1939 (ibid., copy), “to prepare for … an overall solution of the Jewish question” (Nuremberg doc., PS-710 [ZS, G.J. no. 95/294; copy]). Instruction issued in September 1941 by Hitler regarding the earliest possible date for deportation of Jews to the East, recorded in the letter from the
Reichsführer
-SS to the
Reichsstatthalter
Posen of September 18, 1941 (IfZ, Himmler Files 94); minutes of the so-called Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942 (Nuremberg doc., NG-2686; also in ZS, Versch. 460, Bl. 2267 ff., copy) and of a conference held on September 26 and 28, 1942, in Berlin, whose subject was the “evacuation of the Jews” to and from the General Government (ZS, Versch. 9, Bl. 2256, copy). For details see Adler,
Der verwaltete Mensch
(1974), 106 ff., 158 ff., 205 ff., 234 ff., 255 ff., 323 ff.; Poliakov and Wulf,
Das Dritte Reich und die Juden
(1956), 111 ff.

45.
Walk,
Als Jude in Breslau
, 46. Walk also reports these comments about the deportations: “The plans for the evacuation of the Breslau Jews to the General Government are said to be ready and waiting at the office of the Gauleiter.” “At this time of the year, when the weather has turned so bitterly cold, it is doubly cruel, but it just has to be gone through with” (42); “If one thinks through our present situation … one cannot help but conclude that the Germans seem to be directing their war effort exclusively toward our
annihilation
[my emphasis]” (51 ff., 64); “Thousands of Jews have been taken away, especially from Berlin … they came to Jewish apartments in the evening and gave the occupants no more than three hours to get ready before transporting them…. We [have] heard a lot about the big campaign currently being conducted against Berlin Jews … they are being brought to Łód
. Apparently they were removed from their homes amid terrible scenes; it is said that many were driven to suicide!” (66, 68 f.).

46.
Neumann, “Vom Kaiserhoch zur Austreibung” (1936), 422; (1937), 476.

47.
Cf. Reich Finance Court,
RStBl.
(1936): 442; (1937): 476.

48.
RGBl.
I 338.

49.
RGBl.
I 1097.

50.
Minutes of the meeting (BA R 2/11872).

51.
RGBl.
I 479.

52.
At the suggestion of the Reich minister of the interior, minutes (BA R 2/11872).

53.
RGBl.
I 444.

54.
For further details, see Menard, “Rechtsfragen zur Abwicklung der Organisationen der polnischen Volksgruppen im Reich” (1941).

Part One. Section 1. Excursus: Police Law

1.
For a discussion of the new concept for the police, cf. Lauer, “Die Polizei im nationalsozialistischen Staat” (1935), 16 ff.; Liepelt,
Über den Umfang und die Bedeutung der Polizeigewalt im nationalsozialistischen Staat
(1938), 36 ff.; Best, “Volksordnung und Polizei” (1939); W. Best, “Die deutsche Polizei im Reichsgefüge,”
DVerw
(1941): 93 ff.; E. R. Huber, “Die Deutsche Polizei, Bem. zum Schrifttum des Polizeirechts,” Zeitschrift für gesamte Staatswissenschaft 101 (1941): 723 ff.; Scheerbarth, “Polizeirecht”; Maunz,
Gestalt und Recht der Polizei
(1943), 23 ff., 54 ff.

According to Himmler,
Dr. Welhelm Frick und sein Ministerium
(1937), the only obligation of the police was to carry out the orders of the Führer; their only limits were those of “self-discipline” (128); according to Hamel, “Die Polizei im neuen Reich” (1935), 415, “to want to contain the police within the liberal boundaries was sabotage of the new Reich.” The monograph by Drews,
Preuβisches Polizeirecht
(1936), vol. 1,
Allgemeiner Teil
, is written in exactly the same style as the classic textbook on the police code. The new concept for the police is nowhere mentioned or explained; it is only touched upon indirectly in a few pages (9 ff.) in connection with the concept of disturbing public order, which was extended after 1933, under the terms of sec. 14 of the Prussian Police Administrative Law: “According to today’s interpretation of the law, anything that objectively has the effect of undermining, inhibiting, or disturbing the state, or merely giving rise to disaffection, can be construed as disturbance of public order. Also negative, nagging criticism of the existing institutions of the state, which in the individualistic-liberalistic age were considered the basic right of every citizen vis-à-vis the ‘adversary’ of the state, must today be regarded as a disturbance of the peace” (13 f.); for more about the interpretation of the traditional criminal law in jurisprudence, see Just, “Das Ende des Paragraf 14 Polizeiverwaltungsgesetz” (1943), 339 ff.