The Holocaust Journal (Lest We Forget)

Germany - 1938 (II)

In 1938, because of the increasing persecution, many Jews sought refuge in Palestine, which was controlled by the British. But the British were afraid that if they opened up Palestine as a Jewish homeland, their Arab allies would become angry.

The Arabs were already angry. They didn't want the Jews in Palestine and as more came in, the angrier they became. Attacks on Jewish communities began in 1936. In order to "protect and control the Jewish population, the British required travel permits" in order to travel from one city to another.

* July 14 - The Evian Conference had failed. A Nazi newspaper headline read, "Jews For Sale at a Bargain Price -- Who Wants Them? No One."

* July 23 - All Jews in Germany were required to apply for an Identity Card. This card had to be shown to police on demand.

* July 25 - The Nazis cancel the medical licenses of Jewish doctors. In the U.S., Father Charles Coughlin, a vicious anti-Semite, called for an American Christian Front "to combat Communists and Jews." The organization, when organized, consisted mostly of working-class Irish and German Americans. The American Christian Front held that America was a Christian nation and that Catholics should merge with Protestants to fight the Jews.

* July 30 - Henry Ford, the automobile maker, and a staunch anti-Semite, received the medal of the Grand Cross of the German Eagle. When WWII began, Ford argued that it was the fault of "the Jew bankers."

* August 8 - Austria sets up its first concentration camp at Mauthausen.

* August 10 - The Great Synagogue is destroyed in Nuremberg, Germany.

* August 17 - All male Jews in Germany must assume the Israel and all female Jews the name Sarah by January 1, 1939.

* August 18 - Miron Cristea, the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, urges the Romanian people to "fight the Jewish parasites." The Swiss government denies entry to Jews.

* August 26 - Adolf Eichmann establishes the Central Office for Jewish Emigration in Vienna.

* September - A concentration camp is set up at Neuengamme, Germany. Several German generals plan "The Berlin Putsch," the aim of which is to overthow Hitler and toss him into an insane asylum. It never happens.

* September 6 - Pope Pius XII tells Belgian pilgrims in an informal session that Christians should not be involved in anti-Semitic movements. However, they have a right to defend themselves if their legitimate interests are threatened.

* September 15 - Neville Chamberlain, the British PM, meets with Hitler to discuss the Sudeten crisis. Hitler demands that the Sudetenland be ceded by Czechoslovakia to Germany.

* September 22-23 - Chamberlain meets with Hitler again, this time at Godesberg, Germany.

* September 26 - Hitler promises that if he is given the Sudetenland, he will make no more territorial demands in Europe.

* September 27 - Jews can no longer practice law in Germany.

* September 29-30 - The Munich Conference. France and Great Britain allow Germany to illegally annex the Sedetenland of Czechoslovakia. Many in Europe are pleased and think that war has been averted. The Czech representatives to the conference break down in tears upon hearing the news. Chamberlain signs a "secret" friendship pact with Germany but does not inform France. When he arrives home, he holds up a scrap of paper to the crowd and proclaims "peace in our time."

* October - The Polish government voids the passports of all Jews who have lived outside of Poland more than five years. They have no place to go.

The most prominent Jesuit journal, Civilta Cattolica, published in Rome, writes that "Judaism is sinister and accuses Jews of trying to control the world through money and secularism. The journal says that the devil is the Jews' master; Judaism is evil and 'a standing menace to the world.''"

* October 1-10 - The German Wehrmacht moves in and occupies the Sudetenland.

* October 5 - All Jewish passports are recalled by the German government. They are then marked with a large, colored "J." This makes it impossible for a Jew to pretend to be a Christian and sneak into Switzerland.

* October 28 - Germany expels Jews who are Polish citizens. At the Polish border, they are refused entrance to Poland. Germany will not let them return to German soil. Seventeen thousand people are stranded in the small town of Zbaszyn, Poland.

* November - A Roman Catholic priest from Berlin, Bernhard Lichtenberg, condemns the Nazi treatment of the Jews. He is one of very few German Catholics to oppose the anti-Semitism of the German government. He sermonizes "Outside the synagogue is burning, and that is also a house of God."

* November 7 - A young Jewish man, unhappy with what Germany has done to his family, goes to the German embassy in Paris and shoots Ernst vom Rath, a Third Secretary of Legation. The Nazis use this as a pretext to start a long-planned terror campaign against the Jews.

November 9 - Hermann Goring is authorized by Hitler to deal with all Jewish issues.

November 9-10 - The infamous Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) occurs all over Germany. "Ninety-one Jews are killed; others are beaten. Thirty thousand male Jews are sent to concentration camps, though most will be released in a few weeks. 267 synagogues are desecrated and destroyed (almost all of the synagogues of Germany and Austria). SS Security Chief Reinhard Heydrich instructs security agencies to burn the synagogues unless German lives or property are endangered. Jewish businesses are looted and destroyed."

These two dates are important national holidays in Germany. November 9 is the Nazi Blood Witness Day which honors Nazi "martyrs" who died for the cause. November 10 is the birthday of Martin Luther who advocated the destruction of Jewish homes and synagogues and urged poverty for the Jews as well as forced labor, exile and death.

* November 10 - A rally celebrating Kristallnacht is held in Nuremberg, drawing 100,000 people.

* November 11 - A number of Jews are killed and injured during an anti-Semitic progrom in Bratislava, Slovakia.

* November 12 - A $400 million fine is levied against the Jews for Kristallnacht. On this date, the Nazis also decide that all Jews should be removed from German society. Hitler says in a meeting with a South African minister that Europe's Jews will be killed if there is war.

November 15 - All Jewish students are expelled from German schools.

November 18 - Hitler recalls the German ambassador to the U.S. after FDR recalled the US ambassador to Germany. The American Virgin Islands assembly offers the Virgin Islands as a possible refuge for Jews. The US government ignores this offer.

* November 20 - Father Coughlin, utilizing Nazi documents, claims that Jews are responsible for Russian communism and all of Germany's problems. His archdiocese approves his radio programs as "not contradicting Catholic faith or morals."

* November 24 - Winston Churchill, British Conservative Party leader, determines that Palestine cannot be used as a primary refuge for Jews.

* December 1938 - The British Cabinet approves the entry of 10,000 unaccompanied Jewish children. This is known as the Kindertransport. Most of these children never see their parents again, and many of them will be converted to Christianity.

* December 3 - The Nazis say all Jewish enterprises will be forcibly "Aryanized."

* December 18 - Thousands of followers of Father Coughlin march through the streets of New York City shouting, "Send Jews back where they came from in leaky boats!" and "Wait until Hitler comes over here." These protests last until April 1939, often with approval of New York City policemen.

* December 24 - Some of the American Catholic hierarchy and a few leading Protestants sign a Christmas resolution to express their "horror and shame" at the Kristallnacht events.