Violence Against “Ostjuden” in the Winter and Spring of 1933

Abstract

Abstract This chapter closely examines various forms of violence against Jews from Eastern Europe, mostly Poland, which furnished the largest contingent of the roughly 100,000 foreign Jews residing in Germany in 1933. The chapter begins with an in-depth demographic analysis of “Ostjuden” during the Weimar Republic and then examines the different forms of violence perpetrated against them. These different categories of attacks begin with a litany of the many hundreds of violent attacks carried out against German Jews of Polish nationality in March and April 1933, followed by an analysis of their exclusion from markets and other measures designed to destroy the livelihood of these unwelcome foreigners. A third category of attacks focuses on “rituals of humiliation,” such as pillory marches, designed to serve the SA’s twisted sense of amusement and visceral satisfaction. Since geographic mobility was limited due to lack of economic opportunities in early 1930s Germany, and people consequently knew each other well inside their familiar surroundings, such public running of the gauntlet caused indelible personal trauma, often accompanied by economic ruin. Abductions and forced deportations form another category of attack, for which foreign Jews of Eastern Europe were often singled out. A brief glimpse of cases of grievous bodily harm and murder concludes this chapter. In general, “Ostjuden” were singled out as the first target of violent attacks and the weakest link in the chain, even among foreign Jews. Perpetrators, mostly thugs in SA uniform, knew quite well that “Ostjuden” were generally held in low esteem and that no hands would be raised in their defense.