Ordinance on the Use of Jewish Property

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In the ordinance on the use of Jewish assets ( RGBl. 1938 IS 1709) of December 3, 1938 , Jews were required to sell or liquidate their businesses, to dispose of their property and to deposit their securities with a foreign exchange bank. In addition, they were no longer allowed to freely sell jewels, precious metals and works of art; shortly afterwards they were ordered, under threat of punishment, to hand them over to state purchasing agencies by March 31, 1939.

The ordinance referred back to the " Ordinance on the elimination of Jews from German economic life " (RGBl. 1938 I, p. 1580) of November 12, 1938 and formulated the necessary implementing provisions. However, the November ordinance was primarily limited to retail outlets and craft businesses that were no longer allowed to be run by Jews from January 1, 1939. The new regulation, however, went far beyond that.

Hermann Göring declared on December 10, 1938 that the elimination of the Jews was solely a matter for the state and that the financial benefits belonged exclusively to the state. The legal basis for this was created to prevent individuals or party organizations from seeking profit. The draft of the regulation came from the in-house lawyer of the Flick group Hugo Dietrich and became a legal norm in almost identical wording. The corporation and its patriarch Friedrich Flick , who commissioned H. Dietrich with a design in June 1938, had a particular interest in a legal basis for Aryanization and were looking for ways to take over the Petschek Group at that time in order to maintain their status in the lignite and steel industries.

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Article I referred to “commercial establishments”. According to this, the owner of a Jewish business enterprise “can” be instructed to “sell or liquidate the business within a certain period of time.” A trustee can be appointed at the expense of the business owner. Any sale requires approval.

Compared to the ordinance of November 12, 1938, there was no rigid deadline for January 1, 1939. The temporary continuation of a business that seemed indispensable for the supply was possible. With the necessary approval for the sale, Hermann Göring wanted to ensure, as the person responsible for the four-year plan , that Aryanization profits would benefit the Reich and not seep away "into black coffers and funds" of the Gauleiter.

Article II referred to “Agriculture, Forestry, Real Estate and Other Property”. Jews were forbidden to acquire land. They were ordered to sell their properties within a certain period of time, whereby the purchase agreement required approval. The imperial capital Berlin was granted a right of first refusal ; This gave the general building inspector for the capital of the Reich access to numerous properties.

Article III introduced a compulsory deposit for securities. This measure was based on the “ Ordinance on the Registration of Property of Jews ” and its plans. Jews of German nationality had to transfer shares and fixed-income securities to a foreign exchange bank within a week and could not freely dispose of this deposit.

The provisions of Article IV on “jewels, jewelry and works of art” also only applied to German, not foreign nationals. German Jews were not allowed to buy or sell gemstones, pearls, gold, platinum and silver. Such "foreign exchange brokers" were only allowed to be bought by government agencies. This also applied to works of art worth over one thousand Reichsmarks .

Only a short time later, on February 21, 1939, the "Third Order on the basis of the Ordinance on the Registration of Property of Jews" (RGBl. 1939 I, p. 282; the deadline was set by RGBl. 1939 I, p. 387 extended to March 31, 1939), under threat of punishment, ordered to deliver such precious metals, jewelry and works of art within two weeks. The purchase agency should evaluate and pay compensation.

The “general rules” in Article V concerned conditions that could be attached to a sale. Cash benefits in favor of the state, which could be demanded from the purchaser, were possible. The Jewish forced seller could be compensated with a bond of the German Reich.

The ordinance was signed by the Reich Minister of Economics Walther Funk and the Reich Minister of the Interior Wilhelm Frick and came into force on December 3, 1938.

implementation

The state ordinances issued after the so-called Reichskristallnacht only represented a final measure for the “Aryanization” or (with another Nazi battle term) the “de-Jewification of the economy”, by no means their beginning.

In fact, by autumn 1938 the Aryanizations and liquidations had already taken place on a large scale. Businesses had been given up because the customers failed to come, trade credits were canceled or the owner was forced to emigrate. Of the around 100,000 businesses and businesses that were previously, only 40,000 remained with their Jewish owners. The development was particularly clear in the retail outlets: of the previous 50,000 stores, only 9,000 existed in November 1938.

Establishments

Almost all of the remaining retail outlets were liquidated by the end of 1938; only a few survived if the owner lived in " privileged mixed marriage ". The liquidation of the mostly small and unprofitable Jewish craft businesses also took place in a few weeks. Of the 5800 craft businesses still registered, only 345 could be sold to " German-blooded " new owners.

Real estate ownership

It took significantly longer until the "Aryanization" of Jewish homes and farms was completed. Offices immediately drew up lists from which property size, unit value and market value as well as potential buyers were listed. The responsible authorities then made a decision on the “redistribution” and gave the Jewish owner the option to sign a purchase agreement within six weeks and submit it for approval.

Large corporations

For companies of "extraordinary importance to the industry" and with a capital value of more than RM 100,000, new owners were selected by an "Aryanization department" in the Reich Ministry of Economics . A bank consortium was involved, pointing out potential creditworthy interested parties. The banks received a commission of 2% of the value for their cooperation in the Aryanization and made profits in the millions.

Delivery of jewelry

The municipal pawn shops were appointed central buying and collecting points of the Reich. According to a tariff set by the German Reich, they reimbursed only 60% of the usual "mortgage lending value of pawn shops", which was far below the true value. Only the pure material value was taken into account. Recent studies suggest that silver was only reimbursed a tenth of the market price. Except for the wedding ring, a silver wrist or pocket watch and two four-part silver cutlery for each person, all valuables made of precious metal had to be delivered. The report by the head of a lending agency is often quoted, describing his work and praising it as a “solution to the Jewish question”.

In Hamburg alone, 18,000 kg of silver were confiscated. The Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte took over silver objects with a total weight of 1,600 kg for its collection from these holdings .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Uwe Dietrich Adam: Jewish policy in the Third Reich. (unv. reprint 1972) Düsseldorf 2003 ISBN 3-7700-4063-5 , p. 151.
  2. ↑ Manfred Görtemaker , Christoph Safferling : Die Rosenburg: The Federal Ministry of Justice and the Nazi Past - an inventory, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, 2013, ISBN 3525300468 , p. 284.
  3. ↑ Thomas Ramge : The Flicks. A German family story about money, power and politics, Campus-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 2004, ISBN 3-593-37404-8 , p. 109.
  4. ^ Johannes Bähr / Axel Drecoll / Bernhard Gotto / Kim Christian Priemel / Harald Wixforth, The Flick Group in the Third Reich. Published by the Institute for Contemporary History Munich-Berlin on behalf of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, Munich 2008, p. 730.
  5. ^ Konrad Kwiet: After the Pogrom: Levels of Exclusion. In: Wolfgang Benz (Ed.): The Jews in Germany 1933-1945. Munich 1966, p. 572.
  6. ^ Konrad Kwiet: After the Pogrom ... , p. 546.
  7. ^ Konrad Kwiet: After the pogrom ... , p. 550.
  8. ^ Konrad Kwiet: After the pogrom ... , p. 551.
  9. ↑ Konrad Kwiet: After the Pogrom ... , pp. 554-560.
  10. ^ Konrad Kwiet: After the pogrom ... , p. 565.
  11. ^ Inka Bertz: Silver from Jewish possession. S. 189, in: Inka Bertz, Michael Dorrmann: Robbery and Restitution . Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-8353-0361-4 .
  12. ↑ Printed by Konrad Kwiet: After the Pogrom ... , p. 565.
  13. ↑ Jürgen Lillteicher : Limits of Restitution. The restitution of Jewish property in West Germany after the Second World War. Lecture. September 11 and 12, 2003 ( online ; PDF; 58 kB).

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