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22 Nov. 45
with the killing of a German embassy official in Paris. Unlike the boycott action in April 1933, when care was taken to avoid extensive violence, an allegedly spontaneous pogrom was staged and carried out all over Germany. The legislative measures which followed were discussed and approved in their final form at a meeting on 12 November 1938 under the chairmanship of the Defendant Göring, with the participation of the Defendants Frick and Funk and others. I refer to Document 1816-PS, which will appear in the document book. The meeting was called following Hitler's orders "requesting that the Jewish question be now, once and for all, coordinated and solved one way or the other." The participants agreed on measures to be taken for the elimination of the Jew from German economy. The laws issued in this period were signed mostly by the Defendant Göring in his capacity as Deputy of the Four Year Plan, and were thus strictly connected with the consolidation of control of the German economy and preparation for aggressive war. These laws obliged all German Jews to pay a collective fine of 1 billion Reichsmarks; barred the Jews from trades and crafts; limited movement of Jews to certain localities and hours; limited the time for the sale or liquidation of Jewish enterprises; forced Jews to deposit shares and securities held by them; forbade the sale or acquisition of gold or precious stones by a Jew; granted landlords the right to give notice to Jewish tenants before legal expiration of the leases; and forced all Jews over 6 years of age to wear the Star of David. In the final period of the anti-Jewish crusade of the Nazi conspirators within Germany, very few legislative measures were passed. The Jews were just delivered to the SS, Gestapo, and the various extermination staffs. The last law dealing with Jews in Germany put them entirely outside the law and ordered the confiscation by the State of the property of dead Jews. This law was a weak reflection of a factual situation already in existence. As Dr. Stuckart, assistant to the Defendant Prick, stated at the time: "The aim of the racial legislation may be regarded as already achieved and consequently the racial legislation as essentially closed. It led to the temporary solution of the Jewish problem and at the same time essentially prepared for the final solution. Many regulations will lose their practical importance as Germany approaches the achievement of the final goal on the Jewish problem." Hitler, on January 30, 1939, in a speech before the Reichstag, made the following prophesy: "The result (of a war) will be the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last modified: October 10, 1998
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