a Bekanntmachung¹⁹⁵ stating that, in order for German workplaces to make [5]
proper use of the Jewish workforce, they were requested to notify the relevant
department one day in advance, by telephone or in writing, of the number of
workers they required. The department receiving those notifications would
compile all the figures and inform the Eldest of the Jews accordingly, who
would then supply the number of Jews needed at each workplace. [. . .] applied
to all Jews. Seizures would finally stop and Jews would be able to go out in
the street. There was a rush to buy the newspaper with the Bekanntmachung.
People paid as much as 2 marks for a copy, since every family wanted to
have one to show if ‘they’ came. But the joy was very short-lived. No applications
for Jewish workers were submitted, and the seizures on the streets and
in Jewish homes continued as before. To make matters worse, anyone who
showed the paper with the Bekanntmachung, which the Germans themselves
called nothing else than Bekackmachung¹⁹⁶ — got badly beaten. The German
official wrung his hands in genuine remorse, helplessly lamenting the failed
initiative. He had the courage to ti timda. It turned out that the privilege in
question is very hard to get rid of. It will only be abolished together with the
whole system that created it. There can be no other solution.
March 1941
ARG I 914 (Ring. I/971)
Description: duplicate (2 copies), handwritten (MS*), pencil, Yiddish,
148×206 mm, damage and fragments missing, 10 sheets, 10 pages. In the
margins, the Hebrew letter “ ת” (ink).
Edition based on both copies of duplicate, 5 sheets, 5 pages.
195 (German) announcement.
196 (German) A noun based on the verb bekacken, a vulgar term meaning to defecate on something.
