M. Kaufman The Daily Life of the Village and Country Jews in Hessen The Daily Life of the Village and Country Jews in Hessen from Hitler's Ascent to Power to November 1938 Source: M. Kaufman, Yad Vashem Studies XXII, (Jerusalem 1992), pp.147-198. Part B, C, D, E (Part A can be found in "Anti-Jewish Policy" Theme) Anti-Semitism was rampant in the village of Rhina in the Huenfeld districts, with its 552 residents (in 1932), of whom 182 were Jews 29 . In the village of Langsdorf, a Jew was murdered on April 3, 1935 30 . A Jewish family that left Moerfelden and moved to Fraenkisch-Crumbach immediately felt the violent anti-Semitism of the local residents. In some cases Jews were forced to liquidate their businesses in their home village, but could still make a living in itinerant trade in the nearby villages where the hostility toward them was less pronounced 31 . It is quite possible that the prevailing political orientation of a given village, which determined the strength of anti-Semitism among the residents, was connected to the composition of the local population. It appears that the predominantly Protestant villages were more anti-Semitic than the villages with a large Catholic community. An exception was the Fulda region at the foothills of Rhoen, with a predominantly Catholic population, where violent anti-Semitism was rampant as early as 1933 32 . Villages where peasants had been reduced to penury by the economic crises, or in which holdings were small and their owners had run up large debts, easily became Nazi strongholds. Impoverished peasants and unemployed workers joined the ranks of the Nazis in droves 33 , and proved responsive to the calls to attack the Jews who had been pronounced responsible for all the disasters. As everyone knew everyone else in the villages, the Nazis did not have to introduce any yellow patch in order to identify the Jews or their homes. No special organisational effort was required for the SA thugs to pounce on the Jews ¯ one speech of incitement was enough. In the villages where no efficient apparatus of incitement existed, the Jews suffered less 34 . Overall, it seems that persecutions of Jews in the countryside commenced earlier than in the towns. Therefore it comes as no surprise that the exodus from the villages preceded the exodus from the urban areas. Severance of Social Ties Between the Jews and Their Neighbours This process occurred on two levels: formal and personal. Formal ties were cut off mainly through the ouster of Jews from local volunteer organisations ¯ sports associations, song and dance clubs, hiking clubs, economic bodies, youth organisations, and organisations devoted to the improvement of living conditions in various localities 35 . As early as the summer of 1933, some of these could proudly announce that their organisations had been "cleansed of Jews." Within a short time the Nazis extended their control over all local organisations, removed the Jews from them, and thus widened the barriers separating them from the rest of the population. In the middle of 1935, the Jews were banned from places of public entertainment. In the countryside the ban was not taken as seriously as in urban areas, but when Martin Buber's granddaughters were forced to leave the premises of the swimming pool in Heppenheim, the incident aroused considerable attention. The manager made efforts to bring them back, but they decided to stay away until their emigration to Eretz Israel in 1938 36 . In some cases the formal ties were not discontinued: early in 1935, harsh words were exchanged between the village head and the leader of the local Nazi party branch following an award ceremony honouring World War I veterans, including a number of Jews 37 . In late December 1935, Jews in one of the villages were given permission to organised dance evenings, provided that no Aryans attended 38 . However, with the enactment of the Nuremberg laws in the autumn of 1935, the removal of Jews from all formal frameworks became institutionalised. Personal relations between Jews and their neighbours weakened steadily. Gentiles gradually stopped visiting Jewish homes and desisted from inviting them to their homes. Similarly, they stopped greeting them in public and distanced themselves from them in the street. Exceptions to this trend are documented in various local publications after the war 39 . Many joined the Nazi party to improve their social and economic position under the new regime and immediately severed their ties with Jewish friends. Regular social occasions involving Jews and Gentiles, such as craft clubs, card games in pubs, and so on, ceased almost overnight 40 ; even neighbourly chats no longer were common 41 . Although, according to post-war testimonies, fear played a large part in the Germans' behaviour, there is no doubt that traditional anti-Semitism facilitated the Nazis' efforts to educate the population in the spirit of Nazi racist theory 42 . Some Gentiles clandestinely supplied the Jews with food an even hid them in their homes during persecutions 43 ; when exposed the culprits were subjected to pressure and threats. Thus, for example, residents of the village of Kelsterbach earned a harsh rebuke in Der Stuermer for their continuing ties with the local Jews 44 . The newspaper report included such details as the act of a SA member, Hans Beck, who gave a ride on his motorcycle to his Jewish friend, Leo Hirsch. Beck was forced to leave the SA, was sacked from his job in a large department store, and had to earn his living as a simple worker. Furthermore, from the outset, the Nazis made efforts to dissolve mixed marriages and break up families 45 . For the most part, the Nazi succeeded in severing the social ties between Jews and Germans in the villages and small towns of Hessen even before the promulgation of the Nuremberg laws. They employed pressure and threats; they posted the names of those who did not comply in village centres and in the newspapers, fired them from their jobs, deprived the needy of communal assistance, and banned them from all social frameworks in their locality. Here and there relations between Jews and Germans continued into 1936 46 , but most finally came to an end before 1938. Deterioration in the Economic Situation of the Jews As the social situation of the Jews worsened, so did their economic conditions. Until November 1938 they tried to find ways of making a living despite mounting difficulties. In the years 1933-1934, the Ministry of Economy issued directives aimed at preventing attacks on Jewish businesses in order to avoid damage to Jewish-owned firms engaged in import and export with foreign countries. Nazi governing circles also feared that the closure of key industrial enterprises and companies would produce further unemployment 47 . These considerations, however, did not apply to Jewish businesses in the countryside and small towns. From 1933, Nazi residents of those areas, in violation of instructions from above, inflicted heavy blows on the Jewish economic infrastructure. In a December 1934 Gestapo report from Kassel we find that implementation of directives dealing with the boycott of Jewish-owned stores has run into difficulties. The local police does not act to prevent it and takes no steps against other actions directed against Jewish trade. The police fear the party.' The Gestapo report added that the veteran Nazis did not understand the policies of the Ministry of Economy 48 . As noted above, most Jews served as middlemen and as traders, and in larger towns they even established manufacturing plants which also employed professionals. Thus, for example, in the resort of Bad-Nauheim in upper Hessen a large number of doctors were employed; in Gross-Gerau, the Hirsch family operated a factory that produced vinegar and liquor; in Oppenheim there were wine-producing plants; in Wrexen in the Arolsen district Jews owned a paper mill; and in Eschwege a textile factory was in operation. All these facilities were attacked as early as 1933 49 . Free professionals and white-collar workers in public institutions were summarily and promptly dismissed from their jobs in line with "the law on rehabilitation of professional officialdom" enacted on April 7, 1933. Even World War I veterans were not spared. Many Jewish doctors left the small towns; some emigrated, others tried to find employment in the large cities 50 . Cattle dealers and small storekeepers tried to adapt to the changing conditions, but their livelihood depended on the whim of local authorities. Despite the efficiency of the Jewish trader and the profitability of trade relations with the Jews, influential figures and bodies continued to press for the ouster of the Jews. Local merchants interested in eliminating their Jewish competitors and debtors seeking ways to void the claims of Jewish creditors co-operated in these efforts 51 . After they were forced out of their villages, the Jews encountered difficulties in collecting outstanding debts. The first warning came with the declaration of a boycott of Jewish businesses on April 1, 1933. In the villages, as in the larger cities, SA men stood guard at the doors of Jewish stores, preventing the customers from entering. The previous day buyers had descended on the stores, fearing that a prolonged boycott would rob them of discounts to which they had been accustomed 52 . The boycott was not enforced uniformly everywhere. In the village of Reinheim, the anti-Semitic Nazi Buergermeister ordered that the boycott would continue after April 1; no one opposed this directive even though his superiors told him to discontinue it. When one of the peasants dared sell a calf to a Jewish trader, the Buergermeister ordered the seizure of a plot of land he had leased from the village. In 1934 several Jewish residents gave up, sold their houses at a great loss and left the village. Those who remained became virtual welfare cases 53 . A similar situation developed in the village of Geinsheim, and in 1934 all the Jewish residents fled. Action committees in the town of Friedberg distributed a leaflet announcing that from now on all the Jewish traders must disappear from the villages.' 54 Although the boycott enforced by the SA guards did not continue everywhere, Jewish businesses were, for all intents and purposes, practically under siege; in many localities owners were forced to liquidate without even being allowed to sell their stores 55 . In most places the SA guards wrote down the names of buyers who patronised Jewish businesses on the day of the boycott, a simple task in the countryside, where all residents knew each other by name. Names of boycott violators were then posted on "disgrace boards" or information boards ( Schandkaestchen ) as a warning 56 . In the town of Bad-Homburg the residents did not take the boycott seriously; even the SA men who stood guard at the Jewish stores until 6 p.m. changed into civilian clothes and re-entered the stores ¯ this time as customers. A few Germans openly resisted the Nazi methods, and on the day of the boycott demonstratively made large purchases in stores owned by Jews 57 . But these amounted to a negligible minority. Most residents had grown accustomed to obey the authorities since the days of the Second Reich. After the boycott day the Jews reopened their stores wherever possible, but as Nazis pressed on with their campaign to deter customers, the volume of sales decreased rapidly. The attempt to conduct business after hours, behind closed doors, was quickly thwarted 58 . Jewish merchants made efforts to sell their products clandestinely at minimum profit in peasants' houses, and tried to earn a living in different ways until 1936, even 1937 59 . The Nazis invested special efforts to thwart attempts to camouflage Jewish ownership of business enterprises by means of fictitious sales to Aryans 60 . Many Jews tried their luck at itinerant trade in places where they could still do so without much interference 61 ; the peasants still preferred to buy from the Jewish peddler who sold cheaper and was more willing to give credit or agree to instalment payments 62 . Despite pressure on the peasants to boycott Jewish cattle dealers, the latter continued to operate in many villages thanks to their expertise and higher prices. In a May 1934 report the Gestapo categorically stated: The economic power of the Jews keeps growing.' In October 1934: Jewish cattle dealers carry on with their trade, and without the Jews the peasants have a hard time trying to sell their cattle.' One month later: Non-Jewish traders are not capable of competing with the Jews, either in prices or in the willingness to meet the customer half-way.' And, again, in March 1935: The peasants are not able to stop trading with the Jews.' A Gestapo report dated June 1935, from Frankfurt, states: The peasants do not find a buyer for the product they want to sell without the mediation of the Jewish trader'; and in July of the same year: Jewish merchants pay every price and offer more.' 63 References: 29.On the expulsion of the Reinheim Jews, see Fritz Wolf, "Die Reinheimer Juden, Spuren ihrer Geschichte," Reinheimer Beitraege , 1988 (henceforth: Reinheim), pp. 88-92, Kaufman Collection 072/98; on the expulsion of the Geinsheim Jews, see Kaufmann-Jugend, p. 46; on the events in Rhina, see Hessisches Staatsarchiv Wiesbaden (henceforth: Hessisches Staatsarchiv Wiesbaden), 483, no. 6752, April 16 and 24, 1934, and July 31, 1934. According to Wolf Arno Kropat, "Die Hessischen Juden im Alltag der NS Diktatur," Neunhundert Jahre Geschichte der Juden in Hessen , Wiesbaden, 1983 (henceforth: Kropat); see also Gestapo Reports for Hessen-Nassau, July 1934, March 23, 1935, and July 2, 1935, pp. 137, 818, 827. 30.According to Hans Oppenheimer of Nahariya, Israel, on the night Roehm was murdered, SA men in civilian dress from the neighbouring village of Hungen appeared and murdered Moritz Oppenheimer; Langsdorf documents, Kaufman Collection 072/75. As for Moses, the Gestapo claimed that his murder was not politically motivated; report of April 3, 1935, Gestapo Reports for Hessen-Nassau, p. 819. 31.Ruehlig-Auer, p. 187. On a Jewish cattle-dealer who, having been forced to liquidate his business in Hungen, shifted his operations to the village of Laubach, see Hungen A, p. 13ff. Another merchant was expelled from Geinsheim, but could still work as a peddler in the neighbouring village of Trebur; the author's recollections. 32.According to Dov Kulka, violent Nazi anti-Semitic actions were opposed during the riots of November 1938 in the areas with a predominantly Catholic population; SD situation reports, see Otto Dov Kulka, "Public Opinion and the Jewish Question in Nazi Germany," in: The Jerusalem Quarterly , Fall/Winter 1982, p. 141. Aynor claims that in mixed villages with a Protestant majority it was more difficult for the Catholics to be anti-Semites; Interview with Aynor. See also Thomas Klein, "Stadt und Kreis Fulda in amtlichen Berichten 1933-1936," in: Fuldaer Geschichtsblaetter , 1984 (henceforth: Klein/Fulda), p. 138f. Klein lists numerous cases of acts of violence in this area beginning on January 30, 1933; Kaufman Collection 072/68. For a most detailed record of violent attacks against Jews in Fulda region in the years 1933-1936, see Gestapo Reports for Hessen-Nassau. 33.Richard Spiegel, a non-Jew from Hilders located at the foothills of Rhoen, relates that in his region Nazi supporters came mainly from the ranks of unemployed workers and impoverished peasants who hoped to cancel their debts to Jewish creditors; Kaufman Collection 072/8. 34.Klaus Moritz und Ernst Noam, NS Verbrechen vor Gericht 1945-1955 , 1978, p. 2ff. Document 6. 35. Das Sonderrecht fuer die Juden im NS-Staat , herg. von Joseph Walk, Karlsruhe, I, no. 80 (1981); see also Kropat, p. 424. By July 12, 1933, all the Jews had been ousted from sports organisations in Gedern; they sought to pursue sports activities within their own frameworks; see Lummitsch/Gedern, p. 12, Kaufman Collection 072/75. See also Ruehlig-Auer, p. 81, and Hadamarer Juden, p. 7; Macellin Span, Zur Geschichte der Seligenstaedter Juden. Aus Dokumenten und Berichten , Seligenstadt, 1986 (henceforth: Span), p. 135. See also Ziegler, p. 26. 36.(henceforth: Metzendorf/Heppenheim), p. 187ff, Kaufman Collection 072/68. 37.Correspondence between the village Buergermeister and chief of the Nazi party branch in Carlshafen, February 5 and 7, 1935 (henceforth: Carlshafen), Kaufman Collection 072/46. 38.Gestapo directives of December 12, 1935. Gestapo Reports for Hessen-Nassau, p. 763. 39.According to testimony of F. Winfried, in a conversation with Kropat; see Kropat, p. 237; see also Zwingenberg, Kaufman Collection 072/83; letter of Maria Fischer, Babenhausen, ibid. , 072/48. 40.Carl Schwabe, "Mein Leben in Deutschland vor und nach dem 30. Januar 1933," in: Juedisches Leben in Deutschland ñ Selbstzeugnisse zur Sozialgeschichte , herausgegeben und eingeleitet von Monika Richarz, Stuttgart, 1982 (henceforth: Schwabe), p. 161. According to testimony of E. Katz of Hungen, the so-called "spinning-room" ( Spinnstuben ) meetings were also discontinued; Kaufman Collection 072/11. 41.On the deterioration of the hitherto good social relations between the family of Jewish farmers Rossmann, and other villagers up to 1935, see Rossmann mimeograph in the possession of the author; see also Kaufmann-Jugend, p. 43. 42.Parents feared being denounced by their children. Letter of Maria Fischer of Babenhausen, Kaufman Collection 072/48; letter sent by head of the Nazi party branch in Beerfelden to the Jewish butcher by the name of Neuer, on December 27, 1937, ibid. , 072/16; see also Cahnman, p. 60. 43.Beerfelden, Kaufman Collection 072/16; Zwingenberg, ibid. , 072/83; in Geinsheim K. Mayer offered shelter to her friend from school, protecting her from the fury of the Nazi village Buergermeister Hannemann, who chased after her for having dared to visit the village after she had been driven out; see Kaufmann-Jugend, p. 43. Regina Goldschmidt from the village of Trebur relates how one of her clients hid her in the pigsty after she had been chased while delivering merchandise to her home in 1935; see Schleindl, p. 294. 44.The Stuermer article was entitled "Traitors ¯ the Shame of Kelsterbach" ( Verraeter ¯ Die Schande von Kelsterbach ); see Schleindl, p. 201. Streicher's newspaper became a scourge for everyone who continued to maintain relations with Jews; see Hoffen/Obererlenbach, Kaufman Collection 072/20. 45.Doerbecker, Ziegenhain, Kaufman Collection 072/20. 46.In his letter of September 17, 1935, to the chief of the district party branch, the head of the NSDAP branch in Seligenstadt says that Boremann had been fired from his job in the Labor Office also because he had continued to play cards with the Jews. See Span, p. 180; Hungen A, p. 29; Ruehlig-Auer, p. 111. 47.On the directive issued by the Prussian Ministry for Internal Administration on October 4, 1933, see Helmut Genschel, Die Verdraengung der Juden aus der Wirtschaft im Dritten Reich , Goettingen, 1966, p. 64. See also the circular of the Administrative Council in Kassel, based on the directive of the Reich Ministry of Economy, December 10, 1934, Hessisches Staatsarchiv Wiesbaden, no. 1142 (the president of the Council in Wiesbaden received the directive on December 20). As early as February 1933, the Reich Minister of Economy forbade boycotting Jewish stores so as to contain any possible damage to Germany Limburg district, acting in accordance with this directive, forbade the district policemen to use a bell to inform the public about the boycott of Jewish businesses, and even forbade handing over the bell to another person for the same purpose. See Camberg documents, Kaufman Collection 072/53. On October 24, 1934, Department 3 of the State Ministry of Hessen in Darmstadt instructed the head of the Friedberg district to prevent the ouster of the Jews from the market-places, and to form a line for merchants in case the market directive issued by the Frankfurt police chief on March 23, 1934, the head of the Limburg district instructed all the villages within his jurisdiction to refrain from boycotting Jewish businesses even during propaganda campaigns in favour of national commerce; Camberg documents, ibid. , 072/53. On September 8, 1933, the district head explained to his subordinates that sa boycott would hurt the German economy and was liable to produce unemployment, ibid. 48. Kassel Gestapo Reports, May and December 1934; see Gestapo Reports for Hessen-Nassau, pp. 111, 211. 49.Kassel Gestapo Report, ibid. , p. 71. 50. Reichsgesetzblatt , I, p. 175 (quoted in Kropat, p. 414). Mainzer, a lawyer from the town of Babenhausen, was fired immediately after the promulgation of the law; see Babenhausen documents, Kaufman Collection 072/48. On April 27, 1938, one district administration of the Nazi party issued a complaint about the ongoing employment of a Jewish technician, a former soldier, in the gas works; see Seligenstadt documents, ibid ., 072/17. On attempts to find alternative employment for those dismissed from their jobs, see Ruehlig-Auer, p. 111. 51.On March 18, 1937, the party demanded help for a non-Jewish leather merchant to compete with Jewish merchants, see Tann documents, Kaufman Collection 072/88. 52.Schwabe, p. 161. 53.Reinheim, pp. 90-91. Report dated June 6, 1937 of the Buergermeister of the village of Reinheim to the head of the Dielburg district, on eight local Jews who had remained in the village; as they were deprived of their source of livelihood, they lived on social-welfare assistance. Reinheim documents, Kaufman Collection 072/60. 54.Paul Arnsberg, Die Juedischen Gemeinden in Hessen. Bilder und Dokumente , Darmstadt, 1973, p. 60. 55.Letter of Maria Fischer of Babenhausen, January 1934, Kaufman Collection 072/48. See also the report from the town of Fritzlar to the district chief, July 23, 1934, on the deteriorating economic situation of the Jews following the boycott of their stores; Fritzlar documents, ibid ., 072/51. On the list of damages to Jewish businesses in the Fulda region as reported in the local press in the years 1933-1934, and the list of Germans who continued to buy from the Jews in the area, see Sonn-Berger, Fulda, ibid. , 072/68; Kaufmann-Jugend, pp. 43, 46. 56.Kolb, p. 137. In the village of Hungen the peasants were warned that should they continue trading with Jews, they would not be allowed to market their products, and the dairy farm in the village would not receive the milk it distributed to customers in town; see Hungen A, p. 13ff. In 1935, in the village of Bischofsheim, the name of the local peasant leader was posted on the "board of shame" because he continued to trade with Jews; Schleindl, p. 68. 57.Yitzhak Sophoni Herz, Meine Erinnerungen an Bad-Homburg und seine 600-jaehrige juedische Gemeinde , 1335-194 , Rechovot, 1981 (henceforth: Herz), p. 276. See also Span, p. 135. 58.The buyers were photographed again and their pictures appeared on Der Stuermer boards; see Gersfeld documents, Kaufman Collection 072/58; and Ziegenhain documents, ibid. , 072/70. On December 15, 1935, the Gross Umstadt local council decided that persons whose relatives traded with Jews would not be awarded tenders, and officials whose relatives bought from the Jews would be dismissed; ibid. , 072/62. On November 26, 1936, the local authorities in Obererlenbach decreed trade after dark illegal. Although Jews had not yet been banned from trading, it was determined that they were to be punished for not keeping to the official hours and that the peasants and party members who bought from Jews must be reported; ibid. , 072/62. 59.Ruehlig-Auer, p. 58; Span, p. 138. In the village of Trebur, no customer entered the shop belonging to the Goldschmidt family after 1934, but Mrs. Goldschmidt personally delivered merchandise to peasants in their homes (Jews could still peddle in the village); ibid. , 072/62. 60.The Frankfurt Gestapo reported in November 1935 that Germans were offering their services to the Jews, acting as their agents in the city's markets of Frankfurt, Wiesbaden and Koblenz, Gestapo Reports for Hessen-Nassau, p. 515. See also Carlshafen documents, Kaufman Collection 072/46. 61.Hungen A, p. 13ff; Kaufmann-Jugend, p. 46. See also the Frankfurt Gestapo Report of January 1936, and Gestapo Reports for Hessen-Nassau, p. 565. 62.According to the testimony of one of the peasants, Alfred Welz, who bought from the Jews at the same time; see Dieter Rebentisch und Angelika Raub, Neu Isenburg zwischen Anpassung und Widerstand , Neu Isenburg, 1978, pp. 271-272, Kaufman Collection 072/74. 63.Hadamer Juden, p. 24; correspondence between the Buergermeister of Echzell and his superiors in October-November 1935 (Gemeindearchiv, henceforth: Echzell Archives), Kaufman Collection 072/ 5; Kassel Gestapo Report of May 1934, Gestapo Reports for Hessen-Nassau, p. 110; see also report of October 1934, ibid ., p 183, November 934, ibid. , p. 146, March 1935, ibid. , p. 252; the Frankfurt Gestapo Report of June 1935, ibid. , p. 456, and July 1935, ibid. , p. 469. Part C The Buergermeister's superiors counterattacked by arguing that although the Jewish merchant offered higher prices than his competitors, this resulted in higher meat prices for the population as a whole, and, the argument went on, it was possible that the Jews sought to stir up dissatisfaction among the residents. This argument was used by the authorities to take measures against Jewish cattle dealers 64 . However, despite the harassment and threats, in many places the Jews continued to deal in cattle up to 1936. Some transactions were conducted at night, in the woods, fields and roads, until the Gestapo intervened on the grounds that such practices endangered state security, and recorded the names of all those involved, both Jews and Aryans 65 . In their efforts to stamp out the Jewish presence in cattle dealing, the Nazi authorities tried to establish co-operative associations, the so-called Viehverwertungsgenossenschaften , to take over the cattle trade. They tried to persuade the peasants to trade with these co-operatives, even organised 'Jew-free' markets, but until 1937 these initiatives brought no significant results 66 . Despite all the dangers involved, the peasants preferred Jewish dealers, even after they signed pledges to desist from commercial contacts with them 67 . When the Nazis realised they had been unsuccessful, in early 1937 they enacted a law whereby the renewal of a cattle-dealing license was made conditional on 'personal and substantive characteristics.' In the autumn of 1937, the law was implemented in Hessen-Nassau, and the licenses of Jewish cattle-dealers were revoked 68 . The authorities also made efforts to curtail trade with the Jews through non-Jewish intermediaries 69 . In the years 1933-1934 some Jewish merchants received an income from leasing their business to Aryans, but in 1937-1938 they were forced to sell to the leases for practically nothing 70 . Until 1937 the Jews some how managed to eke out a living, but the possibilities kept shrinking from month to month. As we have mentioned above, in November 1934, the Reich Ministry of Economy instructed its Hessen branch to allow the Jews to trade in the markets 71 , but three years later, all Jewish businesses were liquidated in line with explicit guidelines from the central government 72 . In 1938 all the Jews were also forced to sell their houses. On more than one occasion, after the buyer and the seller had agreed on a price, the authorities intervened, forcing the Jew to sell at a lower price than agreed upon by both parties 73 . The Nazis employed various means to dispossess the Jews of their businesses and property. Owners of butcher shops were accused of selling spoiled meat 74 ; Jews were beaten while attending to their businesses; and death threats were issued to others. In 1935, a number of village councils promulgated regulations banning Jews from almost all forms of economic activity 75 . In 1934, thugs seized a shipment of cattle bound for the market in Rhoen Mountains and released all the animals. By 1936 commercial activities were almost totally out of bounds for the Jews 76 . In the spring of 1938, the district administration ordered the villages within its jurisdiction to liquidate completely all Jewish businesses in the district 77 . This step put an end to the activities of Jewish itinerant traders who had been dispossessed in the first years of Nazi rule. Peddling had been permitted by the directive of the Ministry of Economy from December 1935, in an effort to prevent the possible emergence of an 'impoverished Jewish proletariat endangering security of the state.' However, in a directive dated July 6, 1938, Jewish peddling licenses were revoked as of September 30, 1938. In a number of places this step had been taken earlier; for example, the heads of the district administration in Wiesbaden had ordered that peddling licenses for Jews not be renewed as early as May 1938 78 . The ouster of Jews from the economic life of the countryside and the towns of Hessen was completed after the riots of November 1938 79 . After that date almost all those who had not emigrated fled to the large cities in the hope of finding either sources of livelihood or some kind of assistance that would allow them to survive. Acts of Terror and Humiliation Against the Jews in Villages and Small Towns Curses, beatings, and destruction of Jewish property were fairly ubiquitous in the villages and small towns of Hessen in the years 1933-1938 80 , and many Jewish residents were targeted for attack and abuse. Nazi propaganda depicted these acts as an example of 'the rage of the people against the Jewish oppressor.' As we have already mentioned, there was no need for the yellow patch in the countryside, and everyone could threaten the Jews and attack them with little or no fear of punishment from the legal authorities 81 . In early March 1935, a village Buergermeister asked the head of the Nazi party branch to spare the homes of Israelites in the village and to refrain from shouting anti-Semitic slogans in front of their houses,' but, of course, such a request was not enough to change anything 82 . In an effort to stir up the hatred even more, the Nazis would deliberately place the publicity boards of Der Stuermer in the main squares or close to places with a high concentration of Jews 83 . Attacks against property were equally widespread; the windows in Jewish shops and homes were often smashed, and in a number of cases the SA men looted the property inside 84 . Some Jews attempted to receive compensation for damages in accordance with the 'law of damages caused by disturbances' enacted in 1920. Such claims, however, were delayed in the courts for an entire year only to be dismissed on the grounds that the attack had taken place during a legal demonstration by the NSDAP and not during disturbances and that the plaintiff had not sustained damages which jeopardised his economic position 85 . Some of the Nazis' methods employed to humiliate the Jews in the aftermath of the Anschluss in Vienna had been practised in a number of Hessen villages as early as the spring of 1933; thus, in one village the Jews were forced to erase or remove election posters of non-Nazi political parties prior to the March 1933 elections 86 . In many towns and villages the local tavern became the base of operations for the SA thugs who would penetrate acts of violence against the Jews 87 . In a number of villages Jews and political opponents of the Nazis, such as Communists, were dragged into the local tavern and forced to run between two rows of thugs who beat them with iron rods and rubber truncheons ( Gummiknueppel ). The police did not intervene to stop the justified rage of the people.' 88 Most Jews refrained from filing any charges, fearing that it would provoke acts of revenge by the attackers 89 . In fact, reprisals of this kind often took place following political events that had nothing to do with the Jews, such as the elimination of the SA leader Roehm by Hitler. In one place an atrocious pogrom of Jews took place on that same day 90 . Some acts of violence were unleashed as a way of settling economic accounts with the Jews. In one case a Buergermeister invited a Jew to his office and then left the premises, allowing one of the Nazis to beat the Jew in order to coerce him into cancelling this Nazi's debt to the victim 91 . In the years 1933-1934 there were cases in which the courts refused to cancel debts following acts of violence 92 , due to the fact that the legal system had not yet been taken over completely by the Nazis. Not everywhere did the Jews take violence against them with heads bowed. In the village of Hungen, a Jew by the name of Ernst Katz was attacked by a SA man, resident of the village, while returning home from the neighbouring village. He defended himself and beat up his attacker. The latter filed a complaint, and as a result Katz was sent to the Osthofen concentration camp near Worms. Later Katz was put on trial, but the judge, who was not a Nazi but a member of the traditional right-wing organisation 'Stahlhelm,' acquitted him. Katz was released and left Germany forthwith. In 1935, a brave Jew dared make a public mockery of his attackers after they smashed the windows in his shop. He put up a large sign saying: This property has been insured by a German insurance company and the damage is to the property of the German people.' 93 In early 1936, several months before the Olympic Games in Berlin, the authorities ordered a halt to 'initiated' violence against Jews, even threatening the violators with punishment 94 . The wave of attacks against the Jews subsided, but in late 1936 they resumed with renewed fury. The Nazis did not confine themselves to attacks against the living: in November 1936, the Jews were told to evacuate the old Jewish cemetery in Gross-Gerau and transfer the bones of their dead to the new graveyard. As the Jews transported the exhumed bodies in wheelbarrows through the streets of the town, the Nazis snatched skulls from the wheelbarrows and threw them back in again, to the amusement of the spectators 95 . The violence against the Jews in the small towns and villages of Hessen amounted to a dress rehearsal for the same methods that would be used against all German Jews after 1938. Records of post-war trials indicate that there were some villages in which no violence against the Jews occurred before 1938 96 , but these were the exception. Behaviour of the Authorities in Small Towns and Villages In the first years of Nazi rule some sympathisers of the traditional right-wing parties continued in their posts. A number of office-holders in the towns and villages did accede to the brutish Nazi anti-Semitism. Although most of them could hardly be described as philo-Semites, nonetheless they found the Nazi violence, violation of the law and crude Der Stuermer -style propaganda repulsive. Some of Hitler's supporters even believed that the anti-Jewish violence went against the Fuehrer's wishes; but before 1938 the Buergermeisters who held such views were dismissed from their jobs. It should be borne in mind that as long as they did hold their positions, opposition to the SA and the local Nazis called for considerable civic courage 97 . When confronted by the Nazis, these village leaders did not contradict the arguments against Jews in general, but maintained that the Jews in their particular locality were decent and honest people 98 . In every village that came under the control of extreme anti-Semites, the situation of the Jews worsened overnight. They could expect to be removed from the village at any moment 99 . Some village leaders even hinted to their Jewish residents that they would be better off if they left since the authorities were powerless to protect them or their property 100 . Some Jews sought police protection 101 , but in many cases their efforts to enlist such help, even when they were personally acquainted, led to embarrassing situations. Even those officials who were willing to accord the Jews lenient treatment turned hostile and tough in the presence of witnesses 102 ; while some of them became embarrassed at the prospect of extending official services to a Jew 103 . In the years 1936-1937 the Jews could expect fewer and fewer services from the local officials. By that time all officials affiliated with the old regime had either been replaced or had become Nazi followers; only on rare occasions did a public office-holder dare act according to his conscience and against the party guidelines. References: 64.Camberg documents, Kaufman Collection 072/ 53, and Kefenrod documents, ibid. , 072/55. On October 23 the Gestapo instructed all village leaders to send detailed reports on this subject, since, according to the Gestapo the Jews aimed at agitating the population by overpricing the cattle sold to the peasants, thereby causing meat prices to rise. See Gestapo Reports for Hessen-Nassau, p. 756. 65.Gestapo letter of April 22, 1936. On the whole affair, including the letter, see Metzendorf/Heppenheim, p. 187ff, Kaufman Collection 072/ 68; see also the Frankfurt Gestapo Report, January 1933, Gestapo Reports for Hessen-Nassau, p. 265. 66.On August 5, 1933, the district commission (Kreisausschuss) informed village leaders in the Schluechtern districts that selling cattle to the Jews was contemptible and that it was their duty to the Fatherland to sell cattle to the co-operative associations; see Kropat, p. 420. On August 21, 1935, head of the Lower Taunus district (Untertaunuskreis) announced that he had established a cattle market 'free of Jews' in his district; his announcement made a great impression, ibid. On August 11, 1935, Nazi leaders in the town of Fulda organised a violent attack on the cattle market in town, where Jewish dealers marketed the cattle bought in the district villages. The rioters released the beasts, and the police closed down the market, ibid. , p. 421. On disturbance in the Fulda cattle market, see also Klein/Fulda, Kaufman Collection 072/ 68; on the opening of markets free of Jews in the towns of Arolsen and Waechtersbach, shortly before the party congress in Nuremberg in 1935, ibid. ; on this subject and on the failure of the co-operative associations in the region, see also Kassel report, August 1935, Gestapo Reports for Hessen-Nassau, pp. 310, 360. On April 22, 1937, the co-operative for cattle trade in the town of Butzbach sent a letter of complaint about the fact that in the town of Giessen Jews still operated in the cattle market; see Klein/Fulda, Kaufman Collection 072/ 68. 67.On April 15, 1935, three peasants ¯ Hugo Reuter, Otto Mueller, and Otto Sargh ¯ were forced to sign such a letter; see correspondence with the Buergermeister of Echzell, Echzell Archives, Kaufman Collection 072/ 46. 68. Reichsgesetzblatt , I, p. 28f (quoted in Kropat, p. 241), and Hessisches Staatsarchiv Wiesbaden, 474/3, nos. 774, 1391, 1592, 1608, 1630, 1817, 2152, quoted in Kropat, note 55, p. 443; on the sustained effort to revoke the license of Isidor Koenigstein of Carlshafen on the grounds of 'protection of animals' and improbity, see Carlshafen documents, Kaufman Collection 072/ 46. 69.On the legal battles of the Nazi authorities to revoke the cattle-trading license of an Aryan German Georg Ackermann and his wife, who were accused of serving as intermediaries between the peasants and Jewish cattle dealers in the years 1936-1939, see Gross-Rohrheim documents, ibid. , 072/44. 70.In the town of Gross-Gerau, the butcher shop owner, Salli Rosenthal, leased his store to one of his workers in 1934. In 1937 he was forced to sell it to him for a few pennies; testimony of the daughter, Renate Rosenthal, Schleindl, p. 156. On October 25, 1937, the Buergermeister of the village of Carlshafen reported to his superiors that certain Jews earned their living by leasing their businesses to non-Jews, Kaufman Collection 072/ 46. 71.See letter of November 1, 1934, in the archives of the town of Erbach (henceforth: Erbach Archives), Kaufman Collection072/ 46. 72.In 1937, the district authorities asked the Erbach Buergermeister how it was possible that Jews continued to deal in cattle and timber in his town, and why a Jewish peddler continued to sell arts and crafts made in Odenwald, and instructed him to put a stop to this activity, Erbach Archives. On June 26, 1938, the Frankfurt Gestapo instructed the village leaders through the district heads to put an immediate stop to Jewish presence in the cattle markets on the grounds that it caused disturbances. On August 1, the Buergermeister of Camberg replied that Jews were not allowed to deal in cattle in his town; Camberg documents, Kaufman Collection 072/ 35. 73.Report on the sale under duress ( Zwangsverkauf ) of a house in Moerfelden, on February 27, 1938. The agreed price was 22,000 marks but the Jewish owner was forced to sell for 14,000 marks; Ruehlig-Auer, p. 168. In 1936, the Jews of Homburg were forced to sell their property at prices fixed by the district administrative office of the Nazi party (testimony of Stube Wieland, who worked there as a clerk); Stube Wieland, Kaufman Collection 072/ 58. 74.In Seligenstadt Selma Bachrach was led through the streets of the village while carrying a sign: 'I have sold bad meat' ('Ich habe schlechtes Fleisch verkauft'), Span, p. 138. The Gestapo reported that in Borken, in the Fritzlar district, a Jewish cattle dealer was arrested on January 8, 1935, on the charges of selling a sick cow, whose meat was consequently consumed by fifty people; Gestapo Reports for Hessen-Nassau, p. 807. A similar report on the village of Borken in the Melsungen district, April 1935, deals with the case of contaminated meat that caused stomach poisoning. The same report also detailed the story of a Jewish merchant beaten to a pulp by SA and SS men, against whom charges were filed by the police, ibid. , p. 257. 75.On August 27, 1935, the Goddlau village council adopted a decision, which in effect banned the Jews from all forms of economic activity. The text of the resolution ended thus: 'Everyone who does business with the Jews will be destroyed together with them.' Schleindl, pp. 44, 244. 76.On a Nazi attack on a convoy of cattle being led to market, see Gersfeld documents, Kaufman Collection 072/ 58; on the possibilities of trading with the Jews in Rhoen; see testimony of a peasant by the name of Richard Spiegel from the village of Hilders, ibid. , 072/88. 77.A directive, which applied to the entire district of Odenwald, issued on May 15, 1938, by Erbach, the head of the district ( Kreisdirektor ), banned all Jewish dealers from trading in cattle. Village leaders were instructed to ensure the implementation of the directive; see Erbach Archives. In the village of Hadamar, trading with one Jewish cattle dealer continued nonetheless, and on November 24, 1938 (in the aftermath of the November riots), the district inspector in charge of the peasant population ordered that the license of the Jewish cattle dealer, Heyman Liebman, be revoked; see Hadamarer Juden. 78.Kropat, pp. 421-422. 79.Avraham Barkai, 'Der wirtschaftliche Existenzkampf im Dritten Reich,' in: Die Juden im Nationalsozialistischen Deutschland 1933-1945 , Tuebingen, 1986, p. 165. 80.On August 30, 1935, the president of the government ( Reichsregierungspraesident ) in Wiesbaden reported on a series of attacks against Jews and their property, indicating that in most cases the perpetrators had not been apprehended, although it was known that they were members of the Nazi party; Gestapo Reports for Hessen-Nassau, p. 901. The Kassel Gestapo Report for February-April 1934 mentions in its conclusions numerous attacks against the Jews and their property. Among other things, it reported heavy damage to three synagogues in the government district ( Regierungsbezirk ) of Kassel, ibid. , pp. 80, 88. In January 1935, reports came from Kassel on numerous acts of violence in the countryside, such as beating of Jews and attacks against Jewish property, mainly smashing windows in businesses and apartments; ibid. , p. 225. In his survey of attacks against Jews, based on official reports in the Fulda region in the years 1933-1936, Thomas Klein lists a large number of physical attacks and property damage in many villages in the area. The district party chief lied when on August 2, 1934, he told the Regierungspraesident that no such acts had taken place. He maintained that the perpetrators had been 'immature' youths and that one SA man had been put on trial and acquitted, Klein/Fulda, Kaufman Collection 072/ 68. 81.The murder was reported by Hans Oppenheimer, now of Nahariya, Israel. There were also several wounded in the attack, one of them with knife wounds; Langsdorf documents, Kaufman Collection 072/ 75. In 1935, a Jew and the judge who ruled in his favour in a suit concerning evacuation of a rented apartment were threatened; Klein/Fulda, ibid ., 072/68. On the murder of Moritz Moses in Ziegenhain on June 26, 1935, see Gestapo Reports for Hessen-Nassau, p. 819. 82.Carlshafen documents, Kaufman Collection 072/ 46. 83.The Stuermer bulletin board was placed in front of the synagogue in the town of Gross-Gerau; see Kaufmann, Gross-Gerau, p. 10. In Moerfelden, by no means a Nazi stronghold, walls were covered with anti-Semitic slogans in 1936, Ruehlig-Auer, p. 111. 84.As early as March 31, 1933, the Nazis smashed shop windows in the trading houses belonging to Kahn and Gutman, as well as the windows in the house of Simon Gutman in Gross-Gerau; Ziegler, p. 31. In early 1934, one night Nazi thugs appeared at the house of the author, smashed all the windows and threw stones into the bedrooms. The attackers threatened to force their way inside and massacre the residents. At the last moment their leaders reined them in and sent them back home. After all the Jews had fled from the village of Geinsheim, the Nazis broke into their homes, which had been closed shut, broke everything in sight, and looted the property and merchandise from the stores. The police filed a report but no investigation followed; Kaufmann-Jugend, p. 46. On March 26, 1933, the house of Aharon Josef Halberstadt in the village of Florstadt was broken into, and the property was looted; Kaufman Collection 072/ 87. On the night of March 12, 1933, a pogrom was perpetrated against the Jews of Lich. The Nazi chief issued an order to cut off the Jews' beards and hair. The ChambrÉ family home was looted; the head of the family was seriously beaten and remained a cripple for the rest of his life. The family accounts were also stolen in order to forestall the collection of outstanding debts, ibid. , 072/80. 85.On January 31, 1933, attackers smashed most Jewish windows in the town of Alsfeld; Kaufman Collection 072/ 42. On January 20, attacks began on Jews in the towns of Gersfeld, Fulda District; ibid. , 072/42. On March 13, and September 26, 1933, Gedern Jews were attacked by SA men, local thugs from neighbouring villages, and members of the labour battalion ( Arbeitsdienst ) stationed in the area; Diel/Gedern, ibid. , 072/75. In Griesheim, Gustav Herz Leib was seriously beaten following the March 1933 elections; ibid. , 072/71. On the violence against the Jews of Fulda in January and February 1933, see also Sonn-Berger, Fulda, p. 160, ibid. , 072/68. In the second week of March 1933, Nazi thugs broke into Jewish apartments in Gross-Gerau, destroying everything they could lay their hands on; Ziegler, p. 26. On March 24, 1933, Nazis gathered in front of the house of a Jewish doctor, Gruenbaum, in Bad-Nauheim, intending to lynch him for his alleged smuggling of anti-German reports abroad. The police arrested Gruenbaum 'in order to protect him'; Kolb, p. 134. In the village of Gladenbach, Jews were severely attacked. In the village of Rhina, anti-Jewish violence proved too much even for the Kassel police chief. On March 22, 1935, Nazis broke into the synagogue, and all the worshippers were savagely beaten. Eleven were injured, some of them seriously. Three days later many Jews were attacked at night in their homes, and after incessant rioting three of the rioters were taken into 'protective custody,' on the grounds that their incitement 'dealt a serious bto discipline and endangered public order.' As in many other cases, no one was brought to trial; Kropat, pp. 4360437. In late March 1933, several Jews were arrested in Heppenheim; among them was Martin Buber; see Metzendorf/Heppenheim, Kaufman Collection 072/ 681. On legal claims filed by Jews in accordance with the law on damages resulting from disturbances, see Alsfeld documents, ibid ., 072/42. 86.On Jews being forced to erase slogans before and after the March 1933 elections, see Ortenburg documents, ibid. , 072/71; Metzendorf/Heppenheim, ibid. , 072/68, Reinheim; pp. 88-89. 87.The tavern belonging to Dieter served as such a center in the village of Geinsheim; Ella, the young daughter of the owner, played the gracious hostess to the SA thugs; Kaufmann-Jugend, p. 46. On the night of September 15, 1935, a group of Nazis left 'Die Traube' tavern in order to force the Jewish residents to dismiss their Aryan maids immediately; Kaufman Collection 072/20. 88.For description of such an event, see Hungen A, p. 13ff, and Katz Report, Hungen documents, Kaufman Collection 072/20. 89.Kaufmann-Jugend, p. 46; Schleindl, pp. 43, 283; Reinheim, p. 89; Ziegler, p. 26; Kropat, p. 435; Klein/Fulda, Kaufman Collection 072/ 78; Metzendorf/Heppenheim, p. 187, ibid. 90.Der Judenpogrom in Hungen , eingeleitet von Buergermeister Schmied , Hungen, 1988 (henceforth: Hungen B), pp. 33-34. 91.Incidents of this kind were reported by Lisa Kahn from the village of Stockstadt; Schleindl, p. 284. In one case a district peasant leader ( Kreisbauernfuehrer ) was questioned on his involvement in an attempt to extort money from a Jew; report from Huenfeld, December 8, 1934, Gestapo Reports for Hessen-Nassau, p. 803. 92.Hungen B, p. 32. 93.Hungen A, p. 13ff. 94.In the directive against actions by individual initiative ( Einzelaktionen ) violators were described as rebels and enemies of the state; Gross-Ruhrheim documents, Kaufman Collection 072/ 44. On sharply worded directives against such actions, see also Metzendorf/Heppenheim, p. 187; ibid. , 072/68. Gestapo situation reports contain abundant evidence on the attempts by the authorities to curtail attacks against Jews; Gestapo Reports for Hessen-Nassau, pp. 601, 739, 752, 768. The authorities also issued instructions to refrain from posting anti-Semitic signs and graffiti to prevent them from being photographed by foreign tourists. 95.Ziegler, p. 29. 96.According to a ruling by the court in Darmstadt concerning the village of Koenig in Odenwald Moritz/Noam, documents no. 20. 97.On the village of Laubach, see Hungen A, p. 13ff. As described earlier, the Nazi Buergermeister of the village of Oberbrechen, Hugo Trost, prevented attacks against the Jews; Kaufman Collection 072/ 63. 98.Evidence of the attitude of the Buergermeister of the village of Echzell toward the Jewish residents is to be found in a directive sent to him from the district office on August 27, 1935, instructing him to refrain from seeking information about the economic situation of non-Jewish Germans from the Jews of the village. In his reply of August 28, the Buergermeister claimed that nothing of the sort had taken place; see Judenverfolgung 1934-1938, Echzell Archives, Kaufman Collection 072/ 1. In 1934, a Jewish woman was employed as clerk in the office of Dr. Brecher, the Buergermeister of the village of Hadamer. He had been a former member of the Catholic Zentrum party. In response to a query put to him by the SA, he replied that she was a daughter of a man who had been killed at the front during World War I. An SA man by the name of Schul addressed Goering directly on this matter; see Hadamarer Juden, p. 25. 99.In the village of Reinheim, a Jewish resident asked the Nazi Buergermeister for social assistance for which he was eligible by law. The request was turned down outright with an annotation: 'Turned down, Jewish swindler'; Reinheim, p. 92. On the events in the village of Geinsheim, see note 43. In the village of Gersfeld, the Jews' situation took a sharp turn for the worse with the dismissal on January 5, 1934, of Buergermeister Seifert and his replacement by a Nazi named Adam. The new village head 'turned hatred of the Jews into the village watchword'; see notes of the priest Langheinrich, 1938, Gersfeld documents, Kaufman Collection 072/ 58. 100. Buergermeister Wilhelm warned the Jewish residents of the village that he could no longer protect them; see 'Die Juedische Kultusgemeinde in Wehrheim,' Wehrheimer Geschichte , Heft 9, 1988, Kaufman Collection 072/ 80. 101.A Jew from the village of Walldorf was persecuted by Nazis who suspected him of arranging trysts with an Aryan girl. He found shelter in the police station; Ruehlig-Auer, pp. 97, 236. 102.In the mid-1930s the father of Josef Stern found himself in such an embarrassing situation when he encountered a policeman in the Giessen passport office; the policeman had served with him in the same unit in World War I; see Josef Stern, Stark wie ein Spiegel , Giessen, 1988 (henceforth: Stern), pp. 80-81. 103.Trude Weisshaupt testified as follows: When I came to apply for a passport in 1937, in a nearby town where people didn't know me, they didn't believe I was Jewish, because I didn't stink.' Ruehlig-Auer, p. 238. Part D The Churches and the Jews of Hessen Although the attitude of Protestant clergymen toward the Jews appears to have differed from that of their Catholic counterparts, the evidence is not unequivocal. Broadly speaking, it can be argued that the Protestants on the whole identified more than the Catholics with Nazi anti-Semitism in the Hessen region, but this conclusion can be accepted only with important qualifications. It is a fact that in predominantly Catholic areas such as Austria, anti-Semitism was as rampant under Nazi rule as in Protestant areas. Franconia, under the leadership of Julius Streicher, was the most anti-Semitic region in Germany, but in the district of Fulda in Hessen-Nassau, anti-Semitism was also common. It appears that Catholic hostility toward the Jews was less intense in areas and towns where they were in the minority. This conclusion is borne out, among other things, by the Lageberichte (situation reports) prepared by the SD and the Gestapo during the period under consideration. It is possible that this stemmed from a certain empathy that some Catholics felt toward the Jews as members of another religious minority. In Hessen many Catholic priests protested Nazi violence even before it turned truly murderous; their opposition may plausibly be linked to Catholic youth organisations in the years 1934-1935. The concordat signed by Hitler with the Vatican on July 20, 1933 failed to prevent Nazi harassment of these organisations. Their activities were gradually restricted from 1935 onward, and ultimately stopped in 1938, with the confiscation of their property by the state. Some village priests in Hessen were incarcerated in concentration camps after they had been denounced as friends of Jews. The priest Barth from the village of Astheim defended the Jews in public; another priest by the name of Dionys (his original name was Zoeren) from the village of Geinsheim died of typhoid in 1943 in the Dachau concentration camp. The priest Albert Muensch fought against the Nazis as early as 1933, and as a result he was forced to leave the country. Heinrich Hamstadt, a priest in the town of Lorsch, was accused of using his sermons for illicit purposes and was subsequently expelled from the district. The Jesuit priest Alfred Delp from the village of Lamepertheim was executed in February 1945, after having been accused of taking part in the 1944 conspiracy of senior army officers 104 . The difference in the attitude of Protestant and Catholic clergymen toward the Jews was quite perceptible in the daily life of those who lived in the localities of Hessen. Church documents indicate that quite a few Protestant clergymen in the region declared openly their identification with the nationalist goals of the Nazi regime and took an active part in the anti-Semitic incitement. In the town of Moerfelden, where Communists had held a majority during the Weimar Republic, the Protestant pastor hoped that the Nazi rule would return the workers to his empty church. The pastor of Walldorf took a similar position. In Bad-Nauheim the Protestant church became an important stage for Nazi propaganda 105 . The German Christians who adopted Nazi views based themselves theologically on Martin Luther's writings. In his work, published in 1534, entitled 'On the Jews and Their Lies,' Luther wrote that their synagogues must be burned down, and what is not consumed by fire, should be covered with earth. Their houses must be burned down as well, and their Torah books and Talmud sages taken away from them…' Some contemporary Protestant clergymen went even further than Luther in arguing that the Old Testament was no longer suitable for Christians in the new Germany. Anti-Semitic pastors succeeded in taking control of the Protestant Church in Hessen as early as 1933. However, in 1935, a pastor from Walldorf and a pastor from the village of Biebesheim objected to the prevailing trend in German Christianity and allied themselves with an independent stream in the Protestant Church ( Bekennungskirche ), which sought to give precedence to the obedience to God over the duty of obedience to the state. But in April 1937, even these two clergymen affixed their signatures to the manifesto in which the Protestant Church pledged total loyalty to Hitler 106 . The 1935 church chronicle in the town of Gross-Gerau gives eloquent testimony to the prevailing mood among the Protestant residents: The two pastors are party members. We have enrolled every Protestant youth in Hitler Jugend… The church and the town leaders are on good terms.' 107 The Protestant clergymen even came out against every show of sympathy toward the Jews on the part of the Catholics. On April 1, 1933, the day of the boycott, a Protestant clergyman from the town of Hanau met several Christians in the company of Jews. Later he recounted: I met there a nice company: a Catholic judge, a Social-Democratic director, and two Jewish couples. The time has come for the police to step in and put and end to this business.' 108 Thus, it appears that the Catholic population in the towns and villages of Hessen were less active in the persecution of Jews than the Protestants, although only a handful dared to disobey the authorities. Although Catholic churches did not become a stage for extreme anti-Semitic incitement, as did their Protestant counterparts, only a handful of Catholic priests acted openly in defence of the Jews. Jewish Reaction to Nazism in the Small Communities in Hessen In the years 1933-1938 larger Jewish communities were still in a position to establish new frameworks of Jewish life, provided the Nazis permitted them to do so. On December 12, 1935, the Gestapo permitted dances to be held by Jews on the condition that no Aryans would be in attendance; on March 15, 1934, the Gestapo issued a directive whereby activities of Jewish sports organisations were not to be disturbed 109 . In small towns and villages, however, similar opportunities for the Jewish residents were much more limited. There is abundant evidence indicating that for most social life now consisted of close family relationships (retreat into private life ¯ " Rueckzug ins Private ') 110 . At first most Jews were reluctant to part with their German identity. Many hoped that the responsibility inherent in exercising power would have a restraining effect on the Nazi party and that its allies from the traditional right would prevent it from putting into effect the plan outlined in Mein Kampf . Some Jews decorated their houses with Imperial and Hessen flags as a show of their loyalty to Germany 111 . One of the laws enacted at Nuremberg in 1935 prohibited Jews from hoisting flags, while allowing them to display 'Jewish colours' (blue-white); with unbounded cynicism the Nazis also determined that they were entitled to the protection of the state 112 . In the first years of Nazi rule, most Jews ¯ guided by previous experience ¯ still believed that it would be best for them to weather the storm. There were some exceptions; for example, one Jewish World War I veteran reacted to the Nazi take over as follows: I had been with them in the army for many years. Hitler's victory means St. Bartholomew's Day [Massacre] for the Jews of Germany.' 113 Some Jews tried to externalise their German patriotism by displaying their war decorations; the Nazis would publicly rebuke them by saying: Jew, don't make a spectacle of yourself!' 114 It appears that, compared to their co-religionists in the cities, Jews in the countryside were quicker to grasp that Nazism would not go away anytime soon. Although opportunities for internal organisation were more limited in villages and small towns, patterns of Jewish reaction there resembled those in larger cities: attempts to promote unity and to establish frameworks for self-help and mutual assistance 115 . In the countryside, however, the striving for unity assumed different forms: new friendships were forged; relatives met to discuss the situation; social barriers between the rich and the poor were lowered; family celebrations turned into social occasions attended by many; links were formed between Jews from neighbouring villages. In small villages Jewish residents made efforts to pray together on Saturdays and holidays; when no minyan (the required quorum of ten Jews) could be assembled for public prayers during the High Holy Days, young Jews from neighbouring villages were called up, even in exchange for payment. Many Jews in villages and small towns returned to traditional Judaism and made efforts to observe the commandments. In town where a minyan could be arranged without much difficulty, Jewish men assembled for twice-weekly meetings to read Torah together. In villages where the residents had no previous interest in Jewish subjects, they now began studying the history of their people and regularly bought Jewish weeklies 116 . As social gatherings with non-Jews no longer took place, Jews met more often with one another to play cards or at social evenings. Many took to clandestine listening to foreign radio broadcasts in German, especially from Strasbourg and Luxembourg. Jewish youths who had been banned from most sports associations in the smaller localities in the first two years of Nazi rule refused to give up on sports activities (at least until 1937, when the Nazis banned Jews completely from sports) 117, and made contact with Jewish sports associations in the larger cities, where they still operated. They could choose between the Zionist Maccabi associations and the Schild, an organisation affiliated with the RJF ( Reichsbund juedischer Frontsoldaten ) ¯ Reich Union of Jewish War Veterans. After 1933, Jewish young people opted mostly for the Schild, as the majority of rural Jews were not close to the Zionist movement during this period 118 . For obvious reasons synagogues in small towns turned into Jewish centres, not only in the religious sense, but as social centres as well. Teachers of religion and cantors initiated classes for the study of the weekly Torah portion, and often young, talented teachers also assumed the social leadership of the community 119 . Members of the community tended to arrive at the synagogue early and to stay after prayers to discuss and exchange views on current events. Even Jews who had been estranged from religion began coming to the synagogue, even if they did not actively participate in the prayers. In view of the shortage of rabbis in the villages and small towns, teachers of religion delivered sermons on current topics, exercising all due caution not to say anything against the regime, as synagogues had been under surveillance since 1933 120 . In 1937, communal leaders were prohibited from expressing views on current issues in public. This had been curtailed as early as 1935 121 . In the years 1934-1935 the position of the Zionist movement in the villages and towns had improved. The orientation of the loyal members of the CV ( Centralverein deutscher Staatsbuerger juedischen Glaubens ¯ the Central Organisation of German Citizens of Jewish Faith) and RJF, the organisations that had upheld national German identity, began to change, while Juedische Rundschau increased its circulation. Robert Welsch's article 'Wear the Yellow Patch with Pride' ('Tragt ihn mit Stolz den gelben Fleck') made a deep impression. The Nazis actually imposed fewer restrictions on Zionist organisations as part of their overall policy of encouraging emigration, while curtailing the activities of those Jewish organisations that had turned the German nationality of the Jews into an article of faith. These policies explain the renewed permission granted to Martin Buber at the end of 1935 to hold public lectures, after this privilege had been revoked in May of that year 122 . Although ritual slaughter was banned in April 1933, Jewish butchers continued the practice clandestinely in improvised slaughterhouses in back of their butcher shops. Those who were caught were put on trial and imprisoned 123 . Another expression of Jewish solidarity in the countryside was the financial assistance extended to the poor by the communities and the charity collected for the benefit of the needy. These activities received official imprimatur, although they could not be made public 124 . Although many German Jews became impoverished in the years 1933-1935, they did not suffer hunger. Until 1937 Jews were still entitled to welfare assistance by law, although, in view of the reluctance of the authorities to approve all applications for assistance, the more affluent community members stepped in to reduce the gap. However, as the resources of the smaller communities depleted, they had to turn for help to large Jewish organisations 125 . In the first years of Nazi rule, Jews in villages and small towns faced greater hardships than did the residents of large cities as these still offered some measure of anonymity. This was one of the factors that prompted the migration of Jews, first from villages and later from small towns, to the large cities. Some planned to begin a new life there, while others hoped to emigrate abroad or to Eretz Israel 126 . By and large most Jewish communities in the countryside and in the small towns had been liquidated by the Nazis even before the outbreak of World War II. Migration of Jews from Small Towns and Villages Since the destabilisation of Jewish existence in the countryside had made itself felt even before Jews in the large cities bore the full brunt of the Nazi onslaught, rural Jews should have been the first to consider the option of emigration. This, however, was not the case. True, some families decided to leave at a very early stage, and did so as early as 1933, after the March elections. Young people who lost their jobs as a result of the restrictions imposed on the Jews' economic activities made efforts to leave either for the United States or Eretz Israel 127 . Many sent their children abroad, and in some cases members of the same family emigrated to different countries 128 . Young people who had experienced Nazi violence first-hand made every effort to leave the country in any way possible 129 . But for most of the older people, well settled in the small towns and villages, emigration proved difficult to contemplate, at least before 1936. Never prone to migration, rural Jews clung to their environment out of habit and hope that the situation would change for the better 130 . In the years 1935-1937, the hopes that Nazism would soon disappear were dealt what seemed to be a final blow, and the number of candidates for emigration rose sharply. In the Fulda region this trend emerged even earlier 131 . Needless to say, for rural Jews emigration was a much more radical step than for residents of large cities; many of them had never travelled further than the nearest town, and most knew very little about life in other countries. They lacked commercial and economic connections abroad; most did not know foreign languages; and they were most apprehensive at the prospect of starting a new life at an older age 132 . True, there were Jews with agricultural and craft skills, and some families even managed to raise £1,000 by selling their possessions, thus qualifying for a special permit to Eretz Israel reserved for 'people of means' 133 . Advisors from the Hilfsverein, who, as early as 1935, had warned against ill-considered emigration due to ÉmigrÉs' expected difficulties in finding employment, only exacerbated existing fears 134 . A number of large families, mostly from Upper Hessen, had relatives who had emigrated to America in the nineteenth century as a result of their economic situation then and had flourished. These relatives now appealed to them to emigrate and even signed affidavits of sponsorship without hesitation. This is one explanation for the relatively large number of Jewish survivors in Hessen, despite the difficulties and tribulations they experienced. For example, one of the Sonneborn family's sons, Rudolf Sonneborn, a Zionist leader in America, initiated and financed the immigration to Eretz Israel of over thirty young members of the family within the framework of Youth Aliyah 135. References: 104.For details on the attitude of the Catholic priests, see Arnold Busch, Widerstand im Kreis Gross-Gerau1933-1945 , Gross-Gerau, 1988 (henceforth: Busch), pp. 135-141. When a Jewish butcher was attacke in Hadamer in 1935, the Catholic priest of the village was also beaten; Hadamarer Juden, p. 23, Metzendorf/Heppenheim, p. 227, Kaufman Collection 072/ 68. 105.Ruehlig-Auer, pp. 84-85. Priest K. (his full name does not appear in the report) played a major part in the Nazi propaganda as early as the so-called 'Hitler Day' in 1933, delivering a Nazi-style sermon in his church; Kolb, p. 139. 106.Steeskamp, pp. 49-50; Busch, pp. 141-147. 107.Steeskamp, p. 49. 108.Schwabe, p. 161. 109. Armor for Spiritual Existence, Jewish Culture and Education in Nazi Germany (Hebrew), Tel Aviv, 1988; Herbert Freeden, 'Kultur nur fuer Juden,' in: NS Deutschland , pp. 259-271; circular ST MA 180 LA Eschwege 1929, Gestapo Reports for Hessen-Nassau, p. 373; circular ST MA 180 LA Hersfeld 9408, ibid. , p. 763. 110.Ruehlig-Auer, p. 75. Kaete Schulz of the village of Geinsheim to the author in 1970. 111.On September 5, 1934, the Kassel Gestapo reported that following the death of President Hindenburg the Jewish residents lowered the black-white-red flag ('German imperial colors') to half-mast; Gestapo Reports for Hessen-Nassau, p. 791. The question of national German flags, also according to the author's recollections. 112.Peter Schmitter, Geschichte der Alpener Juden , Alpen, 1986, p. 92. On the directives of January 6, 1936, banning Jews from hoisting the German national flag, see Gestapo Reports for Hessen-Nassau, p.763. 113.Kaufmann-Jugend, p. 43. 114.One of those attacked shortly after the Nazi take over was Itzhak Mendel. With the Nazis shouting " Juda verrecke! " he stood in front of them, holding the Iron Cross First Class in his hand, and shouted back " Der Dank des Vaterlandes ist dir gewiss! " ('the gratitude of the Fatherland is promised to you'); testimony of Paul Hess, Griesheim documents, Kaufman Collection 072/ 71. On March 5, 1933, facing arrest, Henri Stern displayed all the decorations he had been awarded for his service in World War I. the Nazis tore them off his clothes; Metzendorf/Heppenheim, ibid. , 072/68. In Alsfeld, the Jewish residents whose property had been damaged claimed they were entitled to compensation on account of their war decorations, ibid. , 072/42; see also Schleindl, p. 42. On the hopeless struggle of Salli Rosenthal of Bad-Nauheim for his rights as a World War I veteran, see Kolb, p. 138. 115.Schwabe, p. 162; Interview with Aynor; recollections of the author. The Gestapo, too, noticed the signs of growing unity among the Jews; see reports from Frankfurt, September 1934, and February 1936, Gestapo Reports for Hessen-Nassau, pp. 405, 587. 116.Testimony of Ruth Mayer of Moerfelden, Ruehlig-Auer, p. 198; Interview with Aynor; recollections of the author. The Gestapo reported that the synagogues were full, especially during the High Holy Days. see report from Frankfurt, Gestapo Reports forHessen-Nassau, p. 405. 17.Kropat, p. 424; directives of the Berlin Gestapo, August 9, 1935, Gestapo Reports for Hessen-Nassau, p. 739; directives of the Darmstadt Gestapo to all police centres, July 10, 1937, to stop all Jewish events, including sports competitions, allowing only religious and cultural events. These directives were received at the Schotten district office on November 9, 1937; Kaufman Collection 072/ 80. 118.Interview with Aynor and recollections of the author. 119.On the beneficial activities of the teacher and cantor Karl Hartogsohn in Gross-Gerau, see Kaufmann-Jugend, p. 47; Ernst Kahn gave an account of social and cultural activity in the synagogue of Bad-Homburg, see Peck-Herschler, pp. 82-83; on the initiative of the teacher Korn in the town of Fritzlar, see Kaufman Collection 072/ 51. 120.On the monitoring of Yom Kippur prayers in 1933, in Fritzlar, see Kaufman Collection 072/ 51. 121.In November 1935, the authorities revoked permission for two CV officials to deliver public lectures in Heppenheim on the grounds that they called upon the Jews to remain in Germany; see Metzendorf/Heppenheim, p. 190, Kaufman Collection 072/ 68. On the ban against Jewish lecturers, on behalf of the district head and, through him, to Buergermeisters of the villages of Gersfled and Tann, see Tann documents, ibid ., 072/88. 122.Kropat, p. 425. On March 14, 1935, the Hessen state police directed all police centres within its jurisdiction to take strict measures against all the organisations that were encouraging Jews to remain in Germany and to prevent any meeting at which ideas such as these were likely to be voiced; Kaufman Collection 072/ 80. On May 12, 1937, the Frankfurt Gestapo ordered that the activities of assimilationist Jewish organisations be reduced to a minimum and that the RJF be allowed to handle only the problems of the relatives of Jewish war dead; Camberg documents, ibid. , 072/53. On the encouragement of Zionist organisations and the curtailment of the organisations upholding integration of Jews into German society, see Gestapo Reports, April, October 1935, circulars and guidelines of May 20 and July 3, 1935, Gestapo Reports for Hessen-Nassau, pp. 212, 333, 709, 728. Martin Buber's permission to lecture was renewed since he was a Zionist and favoured Jewish emigration from Germany, Metzendorf/Heppenheim, Kaufman Collection 072/ 68. 123.On the increased vigilance of the local policemen in monitoring Jewish ritual slaughter on April 19, 1934, see Kefenrod documents, ibid. , 072/55. Katz, a Jewish ritual slaughterer, was caught red-handed and was tried and sentenced to three weeks in prison in September 1934. Local Nazis protested against what they considered a lenient sentence, according to Spangenberger Zeitung , Spangenberg documents, ibid. , 072/20. On clandestine ritual slaughtering, the author has also relied on his recollections. 124.Gestapo directive, December 9, 1935; StA MA 180 Hersfled 1308, Gestapo Reports for Hessen-Nassau, p. 762. See also Sprendlingen, p. 108, Kaufman Collection 072/ 65. 125.On February 25, 1934, the Buergermeister of Fritzlar reported that the Jewish welfare organisation had been liquidated and had absolutely no resources; see report for 1934 on the social, religious, and political situation of the Jews, Fritzlar documents, Kaufman Collection 072/ 51. 126.Testimony of Renate Rosenthal, Schleindl, pp. 156-163, 317. See also Ruehlig-Auer, pp. 100, 167, 206, and Kaufmann, Gross-Gerau, p. 14. 127.Abraham Margaliot, 'Emigration Planung und Wirklichkeit,' in: Die Juden im NS Deutschland 128. (henceforth: Margaliot), p. 303; on the emigration of the Hebel family from Gross-Gerau, see Scheindl, pp. 162-164; 'Juedische Angestellte wurden arbeitslos,' Ruehlig-Auer, p. 78. One young Jewish man told the story of how he had completed his studies at the Blumenthal department store in Wiesbaden only to be dismissed immediately afterward due to 'Aryanization.' He decided to emigrate to Eretz Israel and did so in 1936; Caspari/Oberbrechen, p. 66, Kaufman Collection 072/63. On the emigration of young people to Eretz Israel in 1933-1934, see Zimmersrode documents, ibid. , 072/20. 129.Many families sent their children abroad: the Stein family from Buettelborn, Romberg of Astheim, Kaufmann of Geinsheim, and Neu of Nauheim; see Schleindl, pp. 45, 212-213; see also Interview with Aynor. 130.Kurt Weishaupt of Moerfelden fled Germany after he had been severely beaten. He worked for an export firm in Frankfurt, and in February 1936 he obtained an exit visa to represent his firm abroad. He left the country and did not return; see Ruehlig-Auer, p. 233. The Doerrs were a mixed couple in Leeheim (a rare phenomenon in Hessen). Having realised they had no future in Germany, they fled to the United States with their two children; Schleindl, p. 255. 131.In the first years of Nazi rule, a Jewish resident of one of the villages was offered the opportunity to emigrate. He replied that as he was a war veteran he did not fear for his future even under the new regime; Hoffen/Obererlenbach, Kaufman Collection 072/63. On Jews who believed that good relations with their neighbours would protect them and that there was no need for them to emigrate, see Zimmersode documents, ibid. , 072/20. The Jewish residents of Oberbrechen were unwilling to renounce their rights to the Fatherland, acquired by their ancestors for generations; Caspari/Oberbrechen, ibid ., 072/63. On the Jews' conservatism, see interview with Aynor. 132.Kropat, p. 433; Schleindl, p. 46. In September and October 1935, the Frankfurt Gestapo reported on a rise in emigration in the aftermath of the enactment of the Nuremberg laws; similar information is to be found in the report of the Kassel Gestapo in January 1936; Gestapo Reports for Hessen-Nassau, pp. 372, 485, 499. In the Fulda region, as early as 1934 the district head reported that the enactment of the Nuremberg laws, Jews pressured the authorities to issue them passports so that they could emigrate; Klein/Fulda, pp. 143, 151, Kaufman Collection 072/68. 133.On internal Jewish controversy concerning emigration, see Ruehlig-Auer, p. 96; on difficulties encountered by the Neu family, which ultimately emigrated in 1938, see testimony of brothers Herbert and Heinz Neu, ibid. , pp. 179-190. Ernst Kahn of Bad-Homburg testified that in 1935 his father, age forty-eight, had already spent three months in the United States but had decided that he was too old for work in the meat industry there. Three months later he changed his mind and asked for an affidavit; Peck-Herschler, p. 81. See also Interview with Aynor. 134.See Rossmann mimeograph (immigration of a family of farmers to Eretz Israel); Karl Strauss, a Jewish merchant, also familiar with farming methods, emigrated with his family from the village of Flohnheim in Rheinhessen and set up a flourishing farm in Balfuria, Israel (interviews with family members conducted by the author). 135.Margaliot, p. 308. Part E Most village Jews had liquid assets, and in order to raise the necessary funds they were forced to sell their property at an enormous loss. Many hoped that despite the Nazis' anti-Semitic policies they would be able to hold on to at least part of the family property, which had been acquired through the labour of generations of their ancestors. This, too, was one of the reasons why Jews in villages and towns who had not yet been dispossessed tried to postpone their emigration 136 . By 1937, however, most Jewish residents of the villages and small towns of Hessen realised that emigration was their only option. But then they discovered that finding a country that was willing to accept them was also no easy task. Very few countries were willing to accept impoverished Jewish emigrants; even Latin American countries proved reluctant to grant visas to those who declared they were farmers by profession. Only a handful succeeded in obtaining affidavits from relatives enabling them to emigrate to the United States; not many rich American Jews signed such documents on behalf of German Jews who were not their relatives 137 . Furthermore, the would-be emigrants had to overcome a host of bureaucratic obstacles, some of them raised by the consulates of the intended countries of destination. As many believed that leaving Germany could be accomplished easier from a large city, this also accounts for the movement of Jews from the countryside to the cities in the last years before the outbreak of the war 138 . Many Jewish residents of small towns in Hessen committed suicide even before the riots of November 1938. Some of them had despaired of rebuilding their lives in Germany or abroad, while others felt entrapped with no possible way out. A Jewish doctor committed suicide even though all his emigration permits had already been arranged. It turned out that one of his women patients attempted to extort money from him, and when he complained to the police, they accused him of raping the patient and arrested him. A Jewish girl committed suicide because she had been forced to part from her non-Jewish fiancÉ, while another girl put an end to her life upon finding out she was not Aryan but half Jewish. These were by no means isolated cases in the towns and villages of Hessen 139 . Daily Life of Children and Youth Jewish children also felt the worsening situation after the Nazi take-over. In small villages, where all their friends were non-Jewish, they found themselves isolated and living in the shadow of fear. The Nazis lost no time in promoting serious anti-Semitic indoctrination, which embraced even young children; for example, first-grade pupils developed their writing skills by copying the sentence: 'The Jews are our disaster.' 140 However, despite Nazi control of the educational system, propaganda in schools did not have an immediate effect, at least not in all places. In the years 1933-1934, therefore, Jewish and non-Jewish children still befriended one another. In the localities where residents did not support anti-Semitic policies from the start, the children fared better 141 . Nazi race theory was taught in secondary schools by means of visual and other 'aids,' and when teachers proved reluctant to teach this material, the school principal would take over. In one classroom the teacher, who met her pupils for the first time, chose a Jewish girl as an example of the 'pure Aryan type,' to the great amusement of her charges. A few teachers defended and even tried to protect their Jewish pupils 142 . However, in 1935, education toward racism began to bear fruit almost everywhere. We Jewish kids were always afraid,' related one young woman. At school they forbade the pupils to play with us. I was assigned a seat at the back. In the school courtyard I always stood alone. I couldn't stay in the classroom, because they would drive me out. And all this because I was Jewish.' Jewish children became targets of brutal attacks and harassment at school and on the streets by thugs and the Hitler Youth 143 . Members of this organisation were under a great deal of pressure to comply with the Nazi norms. In one case a boy who proved reluctant to sever his ties with a Jewish girl was expelled from the movement, and his father was fired from his job on the grounds of having failed to properly educate his son. Jewish children strolling on forest paths or in the fields were likely to be beaten by young Nazis 144 . In the years 1935-1936, Jewish children in small towns and villages were forced to leave the public schools. Nazi Education Minister Rust ordered that Jewish and Aryan pupils be separated in the elementary schools before Easter of 1936 145 . Jewish children found themselves subjected to unbearable pressure. A handful of them continued to attend the public schools, but this was very unusual 146 . Following the Nazi rise to power, many enrolled their children in Jewish schools; new Jewish educational establishments were added to the already existing Orthodox schools and the 'Philantropin' gymnasium in Frankfurt 147 . In the years 1933-1937, Jewish district schools ( Juedische Bezirksschulen ) were established in Mainz, Worms, Wiesbaden, Darmstadt and Bad-Nauheim 148 . The 'Philantropin' gymnasium and the Hirsch Orthodox School in Frankfurt opened their gates to Jewish children who had been expelled from gymnasium in small towns 149 . Many parents could not meet the costs of school fees, and some students also had their travel costs to consider. The school at Bad-Nauheim operated a weekday boarding school for seventy-five pupils, but students at the district school ( Bezirksschule ) in Mainz returned home every day. The Jewish schools did not follow a single curriculum. Schools in Worms, Wiesbaden, Darmstadt and Fulda were elementary, whereas the curriculum of the Orthodox elementary school in Bad-Nauheim included supplementary subjects, and the pupils were required to attend the synagogue. Hebrew, agricultural training and crafts were important subjects. The school principal was a cantor who also served as a teacher; the other five teachers had worked previously in elementary schools in Upper Hessen. Two Jewish schools operated in Mainz: the Orthodox 'Bondi' elementary school, founded in 1859 by the Orthodox synagogue, and the district school founded in 1934 by the Liberal synagogue. The 'Bondi' curriculum emphasised Jewish studies and Hebrew, whereas the district school followed the general curriculum of the Weimar period: German history and culture, French, English, with an added splattering of Hebrew and Jewish history. Most of the teachers were assimilationists who had been fired from their jobs in the public gymnasium in Hessen. The school boasted a modern gym in the basement of the synagogue, as well as a large soccer field. The Orthodox school in Fulda in the Rhoen mountains was a very important institution as it absorbed pupils from the general, natural-science oriented secondary school in Fulda, as well as Jewish pupils from villages in the district 150 . An attempt was made to establish a vocational school for the automobile industry in Ruesselsheim, where the 'Opel' plants were located, but the institution was closed shortly after its inception due to opposition on the part of the municipal council 151 . Socially, Jewish children and youngsters in small towns fared a bit better than did their counterparts in the countryside. They found it easier to pursue social activities within the local Jewish milieu: meeting at friends' houses, games and parties in private gardens or in the enclosed backyards of the residences of the wealthy. On weekends the synagogue and its courtyard became an important meeting place for Jewish youngsters. Most had been enrolled at the Jewish towns' schools since 1935. On Saturdays and holidays many youths attended prayers and lectures in the synagogues, while on Sundays the synagogue was the venue for social games and sports activities 152 . The meetings among the young people in the small towns were not pervaded by any special ideological contents; these were much more pronounced in the youth movements and Jewish schools. Initially, most joined assimilationist Jewish youth movements, such as BDJJ ( Bund deutsch-juedischer Jugend ). With time, as Eretz Israel became the country of destination for growing numbers of Jewish youths, many of them joined Zionist youth movements such as Habonim and Youth Maccabi, the religious opted for Bahad 153 . The riots of 1938 more or less ended the social life of Jewish youths in the villages and small towns. Only in the large cities were youth movements able to carry on with their activities for some time longer. Final Expulsion of Jews from Villages and Small Towns If in the first years of Nazi rule the living conditions of the Jews varied from one locality to another, from 1937 onward their situation worsened all over. In 1935, the Nuremberg laws were enforced everywhere despite some symptoms of resistance among local residents. Although a Gestapo report spoke of great enthusiasm among the population,' it also admitted that a human approach toward the Jews was still discernible', adding that it is to be hoped that this phenomenon could be eliminated soon.' 154 It is possible that the expulsion of the Jews from the towns and villages was carried out under the guidance of the authorities, although we have no explicit documentary evidence. We may surmise that the Nazis sought to concentrate the Jews in the large cities so as to facilitate the implementation of the anti-Semitic policy adopted in 1938, despite the mayors' dissatisfaction at the influx of Jews into their cities. In any event, the fact that the Jews were now concentrated primarily in the large cities facilitated their final expulsion from German soil ¯ initially through emigration, and later by deportation to the East for the purpose of extermination in the death camps. In order to ensure that the trap was escape-proof and so as to facilitate the expropriation of the Jews' property, as early as 1935, the Gestapo ordered town and village leaders to prepare a card index ( Judenkarteien ) with files on each and every Jew within their jurisdiction 155 . A typical example of the Nazi policies aimed at eliminating the Jews was a decision by the village council of Goddlau, adopted on August 27, 1935, and thus coinciding with the enactment of the Nuremberg laws. Before 1933 there had been five Jewish families in the village. The decision was entitled 'Against the Jews and Their Servants,' and, in effect, it prevented the Jews from continuing to live in the village 156 . The Jews were forced to sell their houses, sometimes at ludicrously low prices and leave the settlement so that it would be 'clean of Jews' ( judenrein ). Some were even forced to carry out certain repairs in their homes before selling them 157 . On August 20, 1936, the mayor of the town of Hungen boasted to his district director: Up to now seven Jewish families have left our town, and we hope that soon the last Jew will depart.' 158 When all the Jews had been driven out, the local Buergermeister could announce proudly: We have cleansed the locality of the Jews.' 159 In 1938, Jewish graveyards in the small towns were closed, forcing the Jewish residents to bury their dead in the nearest city 160 . A handful of Jews remained in a number of small localities until 1942, when they were deported to the East, but most towns and villages of Hessen had been 'cleansed' of their Jewish residents by the middle of 1939 161 . In the years 1933-1938, no organised acts of arson directed at synagogues took place in Hessen, and no operations for the concentrated deportation of Jews to camps were undertaken. Nevertheless, the Jewish residents of the small towns and villages had experienced their share of Nazi violence. The end of Jewish existence in Hessen marked the completion of yet another grim chapter in the policy of the liquidation of the Jews in this part of Germany. References: 136.Interview with Aynor (Hans Sonneborn). 137.Kropat, p. 434; Kolb, p. 145; Schwabe, p. 145. 138.Margaliot, p. 334. On the difficulties associated with securing an affidavit, see Madeline B. Herzmann, 'A Community Responds,' Peck-Herschler, pp. 149-155; for a photograph of the affidavit form, see ibid ., p. 13; on the difficulties associated with obtaining an affidavit, also see conversations held by the author with Elsa May in 1989. In 1937, Elsa and her father tried to persuade many of the affluent Jews in Nashville, Tennessee, to send affidavits to their relatives in Germany, but everyone refused; see also Interview with Aynor. 139.Kropat, p. 434; Kaufmann, Gross-Gerau, p. 15; on the migration of Jewish residents from small towns and villages to large cities, see Frankfurt Reports, Gestapo Reports for Hessen-Nassau, p. 499. 140.On suicides in Bad-Nauheim, see Kolb, pp. 140, 146, 154; on the same phenomenon in the town of Hanau, see Schwabe, pp. 164-165. 141.Kurt Strauss testified that he had absolutely no recollection of the children playing with him, Ruehlig-Auer, p. 198; on anti-Semitic slogans, ibid. , pp. 75-76, and Schleindl, p. 207. Ilse Weisshaupt related that 'after 1933 school pupils put a distance between themselves and me, and cursedme when I rode my bicycle to school.' Ruehlig-Auer, p. 223. Mrs. Steinitz (Baum) also related that after the Nazi take over all her school friends broke off contact with her; Kolb, p. 136. In Oberbrechen the main teacher, K. I. Reifert, a Nazi extremist, systematically incited schoolchildren against their Jewish peers; testimony of Siegfried Lichtenstein who emigrated to Argentina, see Caspari/Oberbrechen, Kaufman Collection 072/48. 142.In the years 1933-1934, pupils of the Realschule in Oppenheim, dressed in Nazi uniforms of the 'Jungvolk,' protected their Jewish schoolmates from other children who tried to attack them. Relations between Jewish and non-Jewish children also continued under the Nazi regime and resumed after the war. Thus, for example, I. Schaefer of Geinsheim continued to befriend Jewish children; recollections of the author. Jewish pupils in Moerfelden, which had been under Communist influence before 1933, did not suffer from attacks by Nazi children until 1935; Ruehlig-Auer, p. 76. 143.Race theory in the Realgymnasium in Oppenheim was taught by the principal, Dr. Goertz, after the class tutor, Dr. Kreimes, a member of the Stahlhelm, proved reluctant to do so; conversation with Dr. Kreimes in Oppenheim in 1969. On race classes in the elementary school, see letter of Maria Fischer,Babenhausen documents, Kaufman Collection 072/48. Ilse Weisshaupt, a pupil in Moerfelden, was mistakenly pointed out as an example of the racial Aryan type; Ruehlig-Auer, p. 223. A teacher in the Hoehere Toechterschule in Heppenheim protected her charges and was dismissed from her post; Metzendorf/Heppenheim, Kaufman Collection 072/68. Two teachers and the principal in the school in the Catholic village of Oberbrechen protected their pupils, and the residents supported them. The Nazis vilified them as 'servants of the Jews' and 'servants of the priests' ( Pfaffenknechte ), ibid. , 072/63. 144.Testimony of Renate Rosenthal, Schleindl, pp. 160-161; Peck-Herschler, p. 83; recollections of the author. 145.Renate Rosenthal: 'When I saw my good friend, Horst Wasenmeier, dressed in the uniform of the Hitler Youth, I ran away from him. He chased after me and asked: Renate, why are you running away all of a sudden?' I told him: You are wearing this uniform, and you're one of them.'' Schleindl, p. 161. On the youthful love between Ruth Schwarz Brody and E., see ibid. , p. 146-147. The enamoured boy searched for Ruth even after the war, but she was already in the United States. These details were revealed by Ruth in a conversation with the author in 1989. On the incident during a trip, see Stern, pp. 54-66. 146.In the newspaper Gross-Gerauer Kreisblatt , of April 25, 1934, we find the following: 'The demand that a class taught by a class tutor be racially homogenous must be upheld. Racially alien pupils will surely restrict education possibilities in the unified classroom...' On the intent to remove Jewish pupils from school before Easter of 1936, see Ruehlig-Auer, p. 99; the last Jewish children left the school in Gross-Gerau in 1935, Ziegler, p. 17. 147.Ruehlig-Auer, p. 99. Martin Buber's granddaughters, for example, who attended the general school until 1938, were the exception; see Metzendorf/Heppenheim, Kaufman Collection 072/68. 148.On Jewish education after 1933, see Joseph Walk, 'Juedische Erziehung als geistiger Widerstand,' Die Juden im NS Deutschland , pp. 230-247. 149.On the Jewish school in Wiesbaden, see Paul Lazarus, Die Juedische Gemeinde in Wiesbaden 1918-1942 , New York, 1949, p. 19ff. On the school in Darmstadt, see S. Adler Rudel, Juedische Selbsthilfe unter dem Naziregime 1933-1939 , Tuebingen, 1974, p. 22; on the school in Worms, see Kurt Duewell, Die Rheingebiete in der Judenpolitik des Nationalsozialismus vor 1942 , Bonn, 1968, p. 117; on the Jewish district school in Mainz and the 'Bondi' Orthodox school, see Susanne Schloesser, 'Einstmal eine bluehende Gemeinde, heute nur noch Erinnerungen: Zum Leben und Selbstverstaendnis der Mainzer Juden,' Als die letzten Hoffnungen verbrannten, Mainzer Juden durch Integration und Vernichtung , Mainz, 1988, pp. 20-21; and recollections of the author, who, for three years, attended the Mainz district school; on the Jewish district school in Bad-Nauheim, see Kolb, pp. 155-156, according to Hilde Meyerowitz, 'Die juedische Bezirksschule in Bad-Nauheim,' in: Juedische Wohlfahrtspflege und Sozialpolitik , 1937, p. 182ff. 150.Testimony of Kurt Strauss, Ruehlig-Auer, p. 198; Caspari/Oberbrechen, p. 64; Kaufman Collection 072/ 63. 151.Otto Berger, 'Die letzten Jahre der juedischen Schule bis zu ihrem Untergang,' in: Buchenblaetter, Beilage der Fuldaer Zeitung fuer Heimatfreunde , November 28, 1981, p. 55. 152.Kropat, p. 431, according to Adler Rudel (see note 148). 153.Schleindl, p. 124, and photographs depicting social activities in the synagogue, ibid. , p. 27. 154.Interview with Aynor; Kaufmann-Jugend, pp. 46-47. On the BDJJ see Juedische Jugend im Uebergang, Ludwig Tietz 1897-1933 , Tel Aviv, 1980. 155.On the Nuremberg laws and their consequences in the countryside, see Peter Schmitter, Geschichte der Aplener Juden , Alpen, pp. 91-96; Otto Dov Kulka, 'Die Nuernberger Rassengesetze und die Bevoelkerung,' Vierteljahreshefte fuer Deutsche Zeitgeschichte , Heft 4/1984, pp. 582-624. See also Kassel Gestapo Report for October 1935, Gestapo Reports for Hessen-Nassau, p. 320. 156.The files contained the personal data of the Jew, details about his political affiliation before 1933, the name of the newspaper he had subscribed to, and the extent of his assets in Germany and abroad; see Span, p. 133. On compiling the files on Jews, see also the directive from the district office to the Buergermeister of the village of Woelfersheim, April 1, 1936, Woelfersheim documents, Kaufman Collection 072/ 24. 157.Schleindl, p. 244. 158. Ibid. , pp. 246-247, and Interview with Aynor. 159.Hungen B, p. 36. 160.Herz, p. 278; Menahem Kaufman, 'Nach 638 Jahren ausgeloescht,' Tribuene , Heft 107, 1988, pp. 136-138; Ziegler, p. 32. 161.According to Ziegler, on September 4, 1938 (prior to the November riots), the Jewish cemetery in Gross-Gerau was closed, and the Jews were forced to bury their dead in the city of Mainz. Ziegler, p. 32. 162.Gedern was declared 'free of Jews' in the middle of 1939, Diel/Gedern, Kaufman Collection 072/ 75. Back to the top