Factory action

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As Fabrikaktion the arrest until then by the will Deportation spared last Berlin Jews called that until 27. February 1943 still in Berlin armaments factories or from the Jewish religious association were forced busy. The term “factory action” was coined by victims only after 1945. The Gestapo itself referred to the raid , which was not limited to Berlin, internally as a " large-scale Jewish operation "; in dealings with the companies it was called " evacuation operation ". The factory action sparked the Rosenstrasse protest , in which non-Jewish relatives demanded the release of those arrested.

situation

In September 1942, 75,800 Jewish Germans were still used for forced labor in factories that were important for armaments . On September 22, 1942, Hitler pressed for the remaining Jews in the armaments factories to be replaced by other forced laborers. Thereupon the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA) took action and arranged for several transports to Riga and the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp . Due to a transport ban due to the war, the deportations were not continued in December, but the companies were informed that their Jewish slave laborers would be "evacuated" by the end of March 1943 at the latest.

At the beginning of 1943, around 15,100 Jewish forced laborers were still registered in Berlin. Outside the capital, another 5,300 Jews were recorded who lived in large cities or labor camps.

On February 20, 1943, Section IV B 4 of the Reich Security Main Office, in which Adolf Eichmann worked, gave more detailed instructions for the "technical implementation of the evacuation of Jews to the East". According to this, certain groups of Jews were to be excluded from deportation “for the time being”. These were

  • Jewish partners from "mixed marriages" , under certain circumstances even after divorce from "mixed marriages",
  • married " valid Jews " who lived with "Aryan" relatives,
  • Jews over 65 years of age, unless they were married to a Jew under 65 years of age,
  • Holders of certain medals and precisely listed awards,
  • also persons who were postponed by special RSHA decrees.

These groups were not to be deported for the time being, but were also not to continue to work in factories that were important for armaments, but were to be used elsewhere as forced laborers. This meant that they could be called up quickly at any time, without having to react to objections from the armaments factories and expect resistance and delays.

Carrying out the raid

On February 26, 1943, the Jews in several cities were asked to report to the Gestapo the next day to check their working papers. In Breslau , where a large number of Jews lived, the victims were arrested without warning early in the morning of February 27 in their homes or factories and held in the synagogue grounds . In Dresden , the so-called " Hellerberg Jewish camp " was converted into a collection camp. The actions in the great empire were over after two days.

In Berlin, the raid - also because of the larger number of people - could not be carried out so quickly and took about a week. Here too - unlike in previous deportations - there was no indication of a date of the "evacuation". On the morning of February 27, the Gestapo and armed SS members suddenly cordoned off around 100 factories and transported the arrested persons on open trucks to prepared collection points. Other Jews, identified by the Jewish star, were arrested by the police on the street. The Gestapo later searched apartments and took away the Jewish residents. A total of around 11,000 Jews were imprisoned in this major raid in Berlin.

Served as a collection point in Berlin

Dismissals and deportations

Apparently all prisoners living in “mixed marriages” as well as many “valid Jews” and some “ Jewish mixed race ” were transferred to the Rosenstrasse assembly camp for further examination, where ultimately up to 2,000 people were detained. Relatives of the arrested gathered in front of the building for days and did not allow the police to drive them away.

Several men from “privileged mixed marriages” were released from Rosenstrasse on March 1st. In the days that followed, up to March 12, most of the people who were thoroughly screened were gradually released from custody on condition that they report to the labor exchange for assignment as forced laborers.

Most of the Jews imprisoned in the other assembly camps were deported to Auschwitz in five transports between March 1 and 6, 1943 . On March 9, the previously deferred “fully Jewish” employees of the Reich Association of Jews in Germany and their relatives were arrested and on March 12, they were also deported to Auschwitz. Another transport with " valid Jews " left Berlin on March 17th with the destination Theresienstadt .

It is very likely that two thirds of the deportees were murdered immediately after their arrival in Auschwitz. For two of these transports, the numbers are supported by a document:

“Transport from Berlin, arrival March 5, 1943, total number of 1128 Jews. 389 men ( Buna ) and 96 women were employed. 151 men and 492 women and children were given special treatment . […] Transport from Berlin, arrival March 7, 43, total strength 690 […]. 30 men and 417 women and children were given special treatment. signed Schwarz, Obersturmführer. "

Escape and rescue

About 4,000 of those wanted were able to evade arrest during the factory action. Goebbels noted angrily in his diary on March 2, 1943:

“Unfortunately, it turned out here again that the better circles, especially the intellectuals , do not understand our Jewish policy and are in part on the side of the Jews. As a result, our action has been prematurely betrayed, so that a crowd of Jews have been wiped through our hands. But we will still get hold of them. "

In fact, surviving eyewitnesses report that they were briefly warned by acquaintances and foremen - in one case even by a police officer. On the other hand, there were denunciations from the very first days that led to the arrest of people in hiding. The Gestapo also set up an investigation service in which Jewish “grabs” such as Stella Goldschlag collaborated. It is estimated that only around 1500 Jews were able to hide in Berlin until the surrender.

The numerous non-Jewish helpers did not risk their lives, but they could hardly estimate the risk of punishment beforehand. From October 24, 1941, there was a threat of “ protective custody ” of three months for “publicly shown friendly relations with Jews” . Often other offenses such as forgery of documents , “ broadcasting crimes ”, “ favoring the enemy ” or “ disseminating corrosive news ” were used and resulted in considerably higher penalties.

After the war, aid for Jews in hiding was not regarded as an active act of resistance and was therefore not considered “worthy of compensation” according to the Federal Compensation Act .

See also

literature

  • Antonia Leugers (ed.): Berlin, Rosenstrasse 2-4: Protest in the Nazi dictatorship. New research on the women's protest in Rosenstrasse 1943 , Annweiler 2005 (reviewed by Nicole Priesching for sehepunkte 6 (2006), No. 3 (March 15, 2006), [1] )
  • Nathan Stoltzfus: "Resistance of the heart. The uprising of the Berlin women in Rosenstrasse in 1943" , Frankfurt a. M., Vienna, 2000, ISBN 978-3763249855
  • Wolf Gruner : Resistance in Rosenstrasse. The factory action and the persecution of "mixed marriages" in 1943 . fibu 16883, Frankfurt 2005, ISBN 3-596-16883-X .
  • Claudia Schoppmann : “The 'factory campaign' in Berlin. Help for Jews in hiding as a form of humanitarian resistance. ” In: Zeitschrift für Geschichtswwissenschaft 53 (2005), no. 2, pp. 138–148.
  • Beate Kosmala: "Unsuccessful help and its consequences: The punishment of 'favoring Jews' by Nazi prosecution authorities", in: B. Kosmala / C. Schoppmann (ed.): Solidarity and help for Jews during the Nazi era . Volume 5: Underground Survival. Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-932482-86-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Printed in: Wolf Gruner: Resistance in the Rosenstrasse. The factory action and the persecution of "mixed marriages" in 1943 . Frankfurt / M. 2005, ISBN 978-3-596-16883-5 , p. 50.
  2. ↑ Susanne Heim (edit.): The persecution and murder of European Jews by National Socialist Germany 1933–1945 (source collection) Volume 6: German Reich and Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, October 1941 – March 1943. Berlin 2019, ISBN 978-3-11 -036496-5 , p. 76.
  3. ↑ Akin Jah: The Berlin assembly camps in the context of the "deportations of Jews" 1941-1945. In: Zeitschrift für Geschichtsforschung 61 (2013), no. 3, pp. 211–231.
  4. ↑ Topography of Terror: 15th revised. Edition Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-922912-21-4 , p. 121.
  5. ^ Doris Tausendfreund: Jüdische Fahnder ... In: Wolfgang Benz: Survival in the Third Reich. dtv, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-423-34336-2 .