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."