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Inhaltsverzeichnis
The "Halbjuden" of Hitler's Germany
were half Christian and half Jewish, but, like the rest of the
"Mischlinge" (or "partial -Jews"), were far too Jewish in the eyes
of the Nazis. Thus, while they were allowed for a time to coexist
with the rest of German society, they were granted only the most
marginal or menial jobs, restricted from marrying Aryans or even
leading normal social lives, and sent eventually to forced-labour
and concentration camps. More than 70,000 Germans were subjected to
these restrictions and indignities, created and fostered by Hitler's
morally bankrupt race laws, yet few personal accounts of their
experiences exist. In this title, James Tent recounts how these men
and women from all over Germany and from all walks of life struggled
to survive in an increasingly hostile society, even as their Jewish
relatives were disappearing into the East. He draws on extensive
interviews with 20 survivors, many of whom were teenagers when
Hitler came to power, to show how "half Jews" coped with conditions
on a day-to-day basis and how the legacy of the hatred they suffered
has forever lingered in their minds. Tent provides stories of life
beneath the boot-heel of Nazi rule: a woman deemed unsuitable for a
career in nursing because the shape of her earlobes and breasts
indicated she was not "racially suited", a man arrested for "race
defilement" because he lived with an Aryan woman, and many others.
He shows how Nazi discrimination and
persecution affected their lives and how such treatment intensified
through the later years of the war. Tent's witnesses share
experiences in school and problems in the workplace, where the best
survival strategy was to find an unobtrusive niche in a nondescript
job. They tell of obstacles to personal relationships and they
soberly remind us that by 1944 they too were rounded up for forced
labour, certain to be the next victims of Nazi genocide. This text
demonstrates the lengths to which the Nazis were willing to go in
order to eradicate Judaism - a fanaticism that increased over time
and even in the face of impending military defeat. The "Halbjuden"
mostly survived the Holocaust, yet they paid for their
re-assimilation into German society by remaining silent in the face
of haunting memories. This book breaks that silence and is a
testament to human endurance under the most trying circumstances.
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Inhaltsverzeichnis
CONTENTS
Preface, ix
Introduction, 1
1 Innocents in Classrooms, 21
2 Mischlinge Need Not Apply, 62
3 Drawing the Line, 101
4 The Penultimate Step: Forced
Labor, 139
5 A Time of Silence, 194
Conclusion, 237
Notes, 243
Bibliography, 257
Index, 261
Correspondence and Interviews by James F. Tent
Alexander, Meta.
Berlin, 29 June 1994.
Benda, Ernst. Karlsruhe, 8 December
1994.
Boehm, Hans-Joachim. Berlin, 28 June
1994.
Coper, Helmut. Berlin, 4 September
1985; Berlin, 30 June 1994.
Fürth, née Heilmann, Eva.
Berlin, 13 December 1994.
Goldschmidt, Dietrich. Berlin, 12
December 1994.
Hartwich, Horst W. (including his
private manuscript). Berlin.
Haurwitz, Hans. Telephone
interview, Erie, Pa., 6 November 1994.
Heilmann, Peter. Berlin, 10
January 1996.
Herz, Hanns-Peter. Berlin,
30 June 1994.
Hess, Otto. Berlin, 12 December
1994.
Jentsch, Werner. Conversation on a
train in GDR, August 1978.
Klein, Rudolf. Vienna, 15 June 1996.
Kühn, Ursula (not her real name).
Hamburg, 6 December 1994.
Langer, Helmut.
Leuchtenberg, Gerda. Rhine-Main
region, 28 June 1994.
Milford, Charles. Telephone
interview, Palo Alto, Calif., 10 July 1994.
Rohr, Martha. Wintersdorf
near Trier, 9 December 1994.
Schwarz, née Brandt, Thekla.
Berlin, 29 June 1994.
Waldegger, née Steiner, Erika.
Memmingen, Bavaria, 17 December 1994.
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