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At
present, the number of Jews taken for labor service in Berlin
is approximately 26,000 (possibly as many as 28,000); of
these, 55 percent are males and 45 percent females. In the
remainder of the Altreich (Germany before 1938) an
addition of probably 25,000 Jews have been conscripted for
labor service.
Those
employed are men aged 14-60 years and women aged 16-50 years.
Where persons are physically fit these age limits are
sometimes exceeded; in most cases such older persons, together
with members of the regular age groups of reduced working
capacity, are used for so-called short hours (i.e., low-level
auxiliary work for approximately 40 hours a week), unless they
are qualified or specialist workers who can be used in their
trade....
In
general, these workers are used only in enterprises in which
it is possible to keep them separated from the Aryan workers,
as required by law, which is mainly in industry. A large part,
particularly of the women workers and youth, are employed in
the various Siemens enterprises, in several chemical works and
enterprises of the wood industry. In part (as at Siemens) the
employment is on the assembling and adjusting, etc., of
apparatus and instruments for airplanes, etc., and in part
sorting, packing, loading, etc.
In
addition, a fairly large number of men is employed on the
building of roads and laying of railway tracks. Auxiliary
workers of both sexes are used to handle goods for forwarding
agents and in enterprises for the treating and re-use of scrap
materials, etc.
Only
in special cases is use made [of Jews] in small places of
work, and usually only specially trained workers. Recently the
City Administration has taken on Jews for street-cleaning.
The
working time depends on the occupation and averages 40-55
hours for women and youth per week, and up to 60 hours for
men....
The
supply of foodstuffs is carried out within the framework of
the War Economy Organization on the basis of the ration cards
generally used in the Reich (marked with the letter J); it is
regularly announced in the Juedisches Nachrichtenblatt
when the ration cards intended for Jewish households must be
collected from the various offices concerned. There is no
central office for the issuing of ration-cards to Jews, and
this would be difficult to carry out owing to the large
distances involved and the wide scattering of Jewish
residences. Jews are permitted to visit the ration-card
offices for other purposes only once a week (for several hours
set in the late afternoon). Purchases may be made in any
retail store between 16.00 and 17.00 hours daily....
There
are no other restrictions concerning sources of supply, but,
particularly in certain parts of the city (such as the West,
which is heavily populated by Jews), the number of stores is
constantly increasing that will not sell to Jews, with the
result that there is an automatic concentration on some
(usually large) stores. It is increasingly common for
announcements to be displayed in food stores that goods not on
ration or in short supply are not sold to Jews. As regards the
re-soling and repair of shoes, which is linked to the Reich
Clothes Ration-Card for the rest of the population, an
arrangement has been made to the effect that Jews may apply
only to one enterprise (Repair Station ALSI), which has
branches in all parts of the city....
The Reichsvereinigung
der Juden in Deutschland** set up by the Implementation
Order to the Reich Citizenship Law created an organization for
the Jewish population which, on the one hand, established
obligatory membership in place of the former customary
voluntary adherence to local religious associations; and, on
the other, extended the organization to the total stratum of
persons who are to be considered as Jews in the sense of the
Reich Citizenship Law, and is thus in a position to operate as
an organization representing all Jews. At the same time there
are clear indications of a maximum possible centralization of
Jewish organizations. Where the predecessor of the Reichsvereinigung,
the Reichsvertretung der Juden in Deutschland, was a
federal roof organization for Jewish organizations in the Laender,
the former separate bearers of the Reichsvertretung now
become branches of the Reichsvereinigung....
The
number of places of religious accommodation has not been
greatly reduced in the recent period. At present there are 11
synagogues and prayer houses available in Berlin; in addition,
most closed institutions (in particular the Old Age Homes)
have synagogues, but these are intended only for the inmates.
As in other areas of Jewish settlement in the Altreich,
Berlin also has representatives of the various types of rites
formerly common (Conservative, Liberal, Reform, etc.). The
synagogues have in part remained in their former locations,
and in part halls in school buildings or other public
institutions of the Jewish community are used.
The
religious personnel has been given up completely as a result
of economy measures. Some are employed in other administrative
departments of the Community, so that the performance of their
religious functions has now become an additional occupation.
Others, younger volunteer functionaries (including rabbis),
have been taken for labor service.
Expenditure
for religious purposes is minimal, consisting of RM 7,000 per
month...for the whole Altreich.
Leo
Baeck Institute, Jerusalem.
*
From a report dated August 18, 1941, by Robert Prochnik,
Vienna Jewish Community official in charge of Emigration, in
which capacity he was sent temporarily to Berlin.
**
See Document 62.
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