The 10th November 1938 signifies the outbreak of the “Volkswut” in Vienna. This was ordered like everything in the Third Reich, and no evidence is needed that the Viennese would have been completely indifferent to Herr vom Rath. It is only interesting that this “Volkswut” e.g. in Danzig [now Pol. Gdańsk] completely forgot to break out punctually and had to break out first on Sunday instead of on Thursday with quite the same measures, only to be also called off 24 hours later.
The police, SS and SA appear to have had instructions to arrest all the Jewish men from 18 to 60 years of age in Floridsdorf, the XXI. Gemeindebezirk in Vienna where the atrocities were already particularly severe after the turmoil, women were also arrested. As is well known, the general search for weapons constituted the pretext for the “visits”; it can be assumed with certainty that barely three old bayonets have been found amongst the Vienna Jews. During these house searches all gold, silver, cash were seized, in many cases linen, clothes etc. too. In some Bezirke there was looting. In Hietzing, a high-class Viennese Bezirk on the periphery of the city, the schoolchildren from 12 to 14 years of age were let out of school in order to wreck Jewish windowpanes and homes.
The “most harmless” punishment for Jews was eviction from home within a few hours. They had to pack clothes, linen, immediately insofar as they were allowed to keep them, and received the ridiculously small “estimated value” for the furnishings left behind. (E.g. RM. 270.- was paid for a valuable three-roomed home.) The residents of seized homes, which were sealed, were accommodated with neighbouring Jews if they were not to wander around homeless on the street. (It was stated as follows in the language of the Nazis in the Neues Wiener Tagblatt of 19.11.1938, in the leading article Judenreine Wirtschaft [Jew-free economy]: "Where Jewish families move after separation from the housing association is up to the discretion of the Jews themselves."
After the residents had already received many blows during the house searches, on their transport to the assembly points the arrested people were treated in the barbaric way described a number of times. After relatively few hours only those who could produce an immediate Ausreisegenehmigung or invalidity or sickness permit were released. If prisoners were not delivered to ordinary police stations they had much to endure, whereas the police are said to have behaved well in most cases, which would confirm that they have not changed in this respect since the experiences gained in the first months of the turmoil.
The inadequate information that the desperate relatives received concerning the whereabouts of their loved ones, now already held captive for 14 days, is a disgrace to civilisation and a sadists’ delight. One day almost all received the information that the men were in Dachau – many of them returned home in the afternoon. Thus the family members were reliant on the attempt at personal verification, and one can imagine that in Vienna a regular service has now been set up between the members of individual friendly families, who position themselves at the individual Arreste, police stations and hospitals, in order to perhaps see their loved ones at their admission. People have been seen with bandages on their heads, hands, arms and legs at such admissions, which enables conclusions to be drawn about their treatment. Family members mostly did not gain entry to the hospitals, which were overcrowded.
In recent days many have been released again, usually elderly people and people with an immediate opportunity to depart. One can deduce much from their silence and their faces.
One can place reports about the personal harassment of innocent people as a slogan at the head of the speech that Dr. Goebbels made on 13.11 Eintopfsonntag in the Germania Festival Halls in Berlin, "The German people were filled with an unprecedented outrage; one which incidentally did not turn against persons, only against objects."
Jews’ shops have been closed down since the 10th November. On one of these days an attempt undertaken by individuals to reopen them was immediately thwarted by the police. Goods are removed to the extent that they are usable for Winterhilfe [Winterhilfswerk des deutschen Volkes], what is to happen further is still uncertain. Only those shops which are suitable to be Aryanised are not allowed to be robbed.
The reports of various foreign newspapers (two London papers also carried the news) that Jews are forbidden to depart until the settlement of the financial penalties, have not proved to be well-founded. On the other hand German Jews have more than ever been subjected to the most severe bullying at the German borders. In Aachen on the Belgian border the early train is always allowed through without the Jews, who are held back there for four hours for “investigation”, which for male emigrants is usually associated with terrible beatings. They are only permitted to travel further on the next train. – At the Dutch border one gentleman had his gold watch, chain, signet ring and typewriter taken away against a receipt, he was even permitted to authorise a named relative to dispose of them [Verfügungsberechtiger]; whether the latter will ever regain possession of the items is of course a big question.
