22nd November 1938
In Berlin the three young rabbis, Dr. Jospe, Dr. van der Zyl and Swarsensky, have been arrested, according to reliable reports.
In Frankfurt am Main the rabbi of the Jewish religious community, Horovitz, was dragged into the burning synagogue at Friedberger Anlage. He owes his life only to the fact that he is a Czech national and the Czech embassy championed his cause so actively at the last minute.
From Aschaffenburg it is reliably reported by family members that at least one 65-year-old man has been beaten to death. This case can in no way have been the only one in Aschaffenburg.
In Frankfurt am Main the appalling state of affairs still exists, that there is no milk and no food available even for nursing mothers, expectant mothers and small children. The families also would have had no means of procuring them, as on average in every family the male members have been taken away to the concentration camp and there is no money whatsoever available.
In the countryside in Bavaria, especially in Upper Franconia, everywhere, even in the smallest communities, the male Jews have been taken to the concentration camp.
To date unfortunately not a single case can be confirmed where prisoners have been released on grounds of the production of evidence that emigration could take place. Instead the most unbelievable complications and difficulties are made. In many towns, even in Frankfurt am Main, it is impossible to have passport photographs taken. In other towns the drawing up of the clearance statement as the basis for issuing a passport is being delayed. Everywhere the tendency appears to be not to allow people to leave but to hold them hostage, even where departure dates have been confirmed.
Cases from Vienna are known where the Einreise-Zertifikat required by the Palästina-Behörde was available four weeks ago without the release taking place. The grounds for the restraint of the people as hostages can only lie in the political area. The reason more often heard, that the billion must be paid first, is completely untrue, because all the bank balances of German Jews have been frozen for a long time and therefore it is entirely within the hands of the authorities to achieve this simply by making over the funds to the Reichsbank by bank transfer. No Jew still has the power to freely dispose of any such sums.
Herr Ministerialdirektor Hans Goslar, 22.11.38