Mere Fact of Being Jew, Court Affirms, Justifies Dismissal

A verdict of the Berlin Labor Court here recently indicates that Jewishness, the bare and simple fact that a man is a Jew, is sufficient to deprive him of his employment.

The Karstadt Concern, one of the largest department store chains in Germany, dismissed an employee. He was a Jew. The man took the case before the Employees Council, a body vested with the right to hear complaints of those who believe they are unjustly dismissed.

The following opinion was handed down by the courts:

“On April 1st a boycott of all Jewish firms was proclaimed. As the Board of Management of the Karstadt Concern contained six Jews out of a total of nine members, and the Board of Directors contained eight Jews out of a total of thirteen members, the concern had to be considered a Jewish one, and would therefore have been boycotted.

“Such a boycott would have ruined the firm, and deprived its 22,000 Aryan employees of their livelihood. It was therefore the duty of the firm in the interest of these 22,000 non-Jewish employees, to purge the concern of its Jewish employees.

“As forty-eight of the eighty-four managers were Jews, this implied not only the elimination of the Jewish directors and managers, but also the dismissal of these branch managers and in general the elimination of the Jewish element in the firm.

“Even if this measure implied great hardship in individual cases, the security of livelihood of the 22,000 Aryan employees justified it.

“The reorganization of the firm which took place after April 1st, made the complete elimination of all Jewish employees necessary. The claimant was dismissed on the ground that he is a Jew. Since the Employees Council’ has to safeguard the interests of 22,000 Aryan employees, it was justified in consenting to his dismissal, and the Court therefore rejects the claimant’s claim.”