Correspondence of Reich ministries regarding Restrictions for Jews for Jews using public transportation within the Reich territories, Berlin 1939

Transcription

1 Correspondence of Reich ministries regarding Restrictions for Jews for Jews using public transportation within the Reich territories, Berlin 1939 Berlin W 8, 30 December 1939 To: Reich Minister of Transport Vosstrasse 35 Herr Reich Minister of the Interior Subject: Exclusion of Jews: here: conveyance of Jews in passenger trains and use of station restaurants. Pursuant to your letter of 12 January 1939 I 1680\38 secret 5012 In conformity with the directives laid down in the decree of the Prime Minister, Generalfoldmarachall Goering, Plenipotentiary of the Four Years Plan, dated 28 December 1938 St. K. Dev secret regarding the accommodation of Jews, and in consequence of certain occurrences and numerous complaints in the question of the conveyance of Jews in passenger trains, I have ruled, in the interest of the maintenance of order in the passenger trains, That Jews of German nationality and stateless Jews are barred from the use of sleeping and dining cars on all railway lines within Greater Germany. Further suggestions from various circles of the traveling public, Party agencies and private individuals, submitted with a view to the issuance of a general prohibition of the use by Jews of railroads, street-cars; suburban; metropolitan lines and subways, and the introduction of separate compartments for Jews in the passenger trains could not be complied with in adherence to the directives laid down in the above quoted secret decree of 26 December Also, in keeping with these directives, the exclusion of Jews was to apply only to a few specified public services, etc., in consequence of which an order barring the Jews from the use of railroad station restaurants could not be issued. 1/5

2 Under the present exceptional conditions, however, it is no longer sufficient to bar the Jews only from using sleeping and dining cars. It is in particular for reasons of counter-espionage that, in my opinion, further and more incisive measures are imperative, necessitating a revision of the directives laid down in the secret decree. According to a report from the Reich Railroad Administration Vienna, the economic group Restaurant and Hotel Business, following a directive of the Reich Commissar for the Reunion of Austria with the German Reich, has sent out an instruction to all caterers in the Ostmark and, consequently, to all proprietors of railroad restaurants as well, to the effect that boards and posters saying No Jews allowed here should be posted at once inside and outside the premises. At the same time the managers were informed that they are responsible for the implementation of and strict adherence to this instruction. Whoever disregarding the instruction has to expect the closing down of the business. A prohibition of this kind, however, cannot have the success desirable from the point of view of counter-espionage unless the Jews are at the same time barred from, or considerably restricted in, entering railroad installations and using the trains. However, there exists at present no legal handle for such action, because neither the Railroad Traffic Decree of 8 September 1938 nor the German Railroad Passenger, Luggage and Express Freight Tariff offer the German Reich Railroads any basis for a discriminative treatment of Jewish passengers in passenger trains. Not only so, but article 6l of the Railroad Traffic Decree states quite explicitly that the tariffs must apply equally to everybody. It must also be borne in mind that Jews are integrated in the national effort these days and very frequently have to use the trains to perform the work assigned them. On the other hand, the Jews have been largely eliminated from commerce so that business trips are out of the question for them. In the occupied former Polish territory an order has been issued already to provide, and make distinguishable by suitable sign plates, separate coaches with wooden benches in the passenger trains running in the former Polish territory for the use by the traveling indigenous population so as to achieve a 2/5

3 separation of Jews and Poles from Germans and members of the Wehrmacht and to prevent the spreading of vermin and diseases to Germans. In the rest of the Reich territory the introduction and regular operation of separate compartments for Jews in the overcrowded passenger trains is bound to meet with very considerable difficulties from the point of view of train-service and railroad economy, which for reasons of general national economy and foreign policy must be avoided in the case of a public means of transportation, conveying a considerable number of foreign passengers and having important international relations and commitments. However, having regard to counter-espionage, it appears to be mandatory to take measures also in Germany proper aiming at restricting the journeys of Jews of German nationality to the smallest possible number of individual cases on which a check can be kept, so as to prevent as far as possible any contact of German passengers with Jews. In order to achieve this it might be advisable to make the admittance of Jews to the railroads subject to a police permit, to provide them with police travel permits serving as identity paper in such cases and to enjoin on all Jews the obligation to make themselves distinghishable by conspicuously wearing a badge (Star of David or such like). In the interest of counter-espionage, therefore, I beg to submit the request to re-consider the question of restricting the travels of Jews on railroads and, by implication, their presence on railroad-owned terrain, in conjunction with the other departments concerned, and to bring about a supplementation of the secret decree of the Herr Minister President, General-feldmarschall GOERING, Plenipotentiary for the Four Years Plan, dated 28 December 1938 St. M/ Dev. 1753, secret. I shall be obliged to you for letting me know the results. Signature Stamp: 8 May 1940 Berlin, 7 May 1940 To Reich Minister of the Interior NW 40, Koenigsplatz 6 3/5

4 High Command of the Vehrmacht Attention Herr Generalfeldmarachall Giering -Plenipotentiary for the Four Years Plan- The Foreign Office, Attention Herr Rich Minister of Economics Attention Herr Reich Minister of Labor Received: 8 May enclosure.\. copy I am sending the enclosed copy with the request to let me know your opinion at your earliest possible convenience. Considering that in the present transport situation any possible restricting on passengers traffic is only too welcome, I fall in line with the suggestions made by the Herr Reich Minister of Transport, (to make the admittance of Jews to railroads subject to a police permit and to issue them with a police travel permit to serve as identity paper in such cases). In order to forestall unnecessary applications it might be announced that permission can be expected only in the most urgent cases (sickness, deaths, etc.). As regards the suggestion of the Herr Reich Minister of Transport to impose on all Jews the obligation to make themselves distinguishable by conspicuously wearing a badge I wish to point out that this would be in contravention of the Fuehrer s decision announced by Generalfeldmarschall Goering in the Gauleiter meeting of 6 December 1938 according to which no outward distinction of Jews (Star of David) is to take place. The distinction of Jews as such should be sufficiently ensured by the obligation to carry the identity cards. By Order: (signed): Dr. Stuckart Stamp: Reich Ministry Of the Interior Herr Reich Minister of the Interior 4/5

5 In reply to the special delivery Letter of 7 th inst. Acting Referent: Secretary of Legation Picot No objections are raised against the arrangement suggested by the Herr Reich Minister of Transport (- ) (to be inserted from the bracketed passage in the letter received) from the point of view of foreign policy. It is doubted here, however, whether it would be judicious to mark the Jews by an external sign of distinction. The enemy would certainly use this latter action for an intensified and at present undesirable anti-german propaganda, (in particular in the neutral countries). This disadvantage it is thought, would bear no proportion to whatever success the suggested action might have in the home policy. By order: (signed): Luther Source: Yad Vashem Archives TR2\N11\1009\NG 3995 part 5/5