Dego levy

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The Dego levy was a tax, which the era of National Socialism in Germany in emigration to the De suction Go lddiskontbank was payable. This levy initially related to credit balances that were posted to blocked accounts due to foreign exchange management and that were to be legally transferred abroad. From mid-1938 onwards, the taking of removal goods abroad was restricted and in some cases a high tax was imposed.

Together with the Reich flight tax , the Dego levy deprived the Jewish citizens who were forced to emigrate from large parts of their property. After the November pogroms in 1938 , the Jewish property tax was also levied. Some of the emigrants who were forced to emigrate were hardly able to save more than four percent of their wealth into exile.

Money transfer

Because of the high national debt, Reich President von Hindenburg had issued an emergency ordinance on foreign exchange management in 1931 (of August 1, 1931 / RGBl. I, p. 421). This meant that the acquisition and use of foreign currency and the export of Reichsmarks were only permitted to a limited extent, otherwise subject to authorization or prohibited. From 1934, according to the ordinance (of September 29, 1934 / RGBl. I, p. 894), only ten Reichsmarks were allowed to be carried abroad.

Until the end of 1933, the foreign exchange offices at the state tax offices allowed emigrating Jews to take cash amounts up to RM 15,000 with them; from October 1934 no more permits were granted. In 1936 the Foreign Exchange Act (dated December 1, 1936 / RGBl. I, p. 1000) was changed: the foreign exchange offices were authorized to issue restrictions on disposal if they suspected a shift in assets.

Those who wanted to emigrate legally had to leave their securities and the proceeds from the sale of businesses and real estate in a blocked account. The exchange of the emigrant's blocked credit into foreign currency had to be approved by the Deutsche Golddiskontbank and was only made with a discount , the so-called Dego levy .

The amount of the fee (based on the values ​​to be transferred abroad) increased over the years and amounted to:

  • January 1934: 20%
  • August 1934: 65%
  • October 1936: 81%
  • June 1938: 90%
  • September 1939: 96%

Moving goods

In order to prevent Jewish emigrants from bringing significant assets abroad as removal goods, only items that were absolutely necessary for personal use were allowed. In May 1938 it was ordered that the removal goods should be reported to the foreign exchange office in good time before they were packed, which should take place in the presence of customs officials. The value and time of acquisition of the objects had to be stated in a register.

For objects that had been acquired after the beginning of 1933 (so-called “new ownership”), a Dego tax was set at the amount of the acquisition value; in individual cases the fee went well beyond this. Newly acquired items suitable for resale, such as cameras or musical instruments, were only released even with a Dego levy if "the emigrant absolutely needed these items for the personal pursuit of his profession [...] and to establish a modest existence abroad".

Sources

There are primary sources for the specific amount and scope of the Dego levy collected, which have been preserved in full. The documents are in the Federal Archives in Berlin, where they are kept in the R 182 collection . The 250 folders for the Dego levy contain in alphabetical order the persons liable to pay the levy and the amount of the payments made by them.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alfons Kenkmann, Bernd-A. Rusinek : persecution and administration - the economic plundering of the Jews and the Westphalian financial authorities. Münster 1999, ISBN 3-00-004973-8 , p. 19
  2. ↑ Figures according to Frank Bajohr: Aryanization as a social process. In: Claus Offe (Ed.): Democratization of Democracy. Frankfurt / M. 2003, ISBN 3-593-37286-X , p. 21 / see VEJ 3/12 = The persecution and murder of European Jews by National Socialist Germany 1933–1945 (source collection), Volume 3: Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3 -486-58524-7 , p. 106.
  3. ↑ Alfons Kenkmann, Bernd-A. Rusinek: Persecution and Administration ..., p. 26
  4. ↑ RWM circular of April 17, 1939 = Document 10 in: Martin Friedenberger et al. (Ed.): The Reich Finance Administration in National Socialism. Bremen 2002, ISBN 3-86108-377-9 , p. 40. Also printed VEJ 2/273
  5. ↑ Meinl, S. and Zwilling, J .: Legalized robbery: the plundering of the Jews during National Socialism by the Reich Finance Administration in Hesse. Frankfurt a. M. 2004, p. 254