[Music, Life & Death under the Third Reich]
1936 German Newspaper Clipping
Chilling German newspaper clipping from Coburg, dated August 1, 1936, inscribed along the left "article sent by Else Wertheimer." Titled "Arrested Because of Interracial Dating" ["racial disgrace"], with the subtitle "A Typical case of Jewish Impertinence ..." The first paragraph translated in full: "Because of transgression against paragraph 2 and 5 of the law for the protection of the blood and the German honor, the 27 year old Jewish sports teacher Rudolf Kaufmann of Coburg had to be arrested." The article goes on to describe how Kaufmann met and had sex with an Aryan widow. When he discovered that he had venereal disease and sought medical help, telling the doctor who probably infected him, the illegal relationship was discovered, and he and the woman were arrested. "The main guilty party is the man, as he purposely did not disclose his race; and as he did not look particularly Jewish, the widow had no qualms in this respect. She was released, and he was kept in protective custody, as he might try to flee, having connections to Sweden. This case demonstrates the impertinence, how even now, in spite of the laws to protect the Aryan race..."The verso article concerns a public swimming pool, the Hindenburgbad, recently installed which "the people are encouraged to use it much more, and regularly, not just in nice weather, in order to be healthy and strong and more capable." There is also a "Thank You from the Educators from Pomerania," the 1400 Pomeranian educators who recently stayed in Coburg, writing to Mayor Dr. Schmidt to thank him for the wonderful reception, he high point of the Bayreuth Reich-conference. They want to return soon and stay in contact, and sign "Heil Hitler!"
From an album kept by Lore Hirsch, author of a Holocaust memoir detailing her ultimately successful struggle to rescue her brother from Auschwitz after she escaped with her family to Argentina and then to New York in 1938. Later, Hirsh became a prominent psychologist with a career that lasted 40 years and included listings in "Who's Who of American Women" and "Who's Who of Women Medical Specialists." (7917)
Ephemera History & Historiography