The definition of the status of the Jews in commerce and industry was omitted from the regulations implementing the Nuremberg marriage and citizenship laws, but an unofficial Nazi drive has gotten under way to force the liquidation of every Jewish firm by January 1.
Scores of Jewish-owned firms, including some of the oldest and most reputable business houses in Germany, are passing daily ### to “Aryan” hands. An incomplete list of important Jewish-### firms sold in the past few weeks follows:
Firm Market Value of Shares
The Cassirer Cable Co. 5,000,000 ###The Hoesel Brewery, Dusseldorf 1,000,000 rm
Fried and Alsberg, textiles, Cologne Undisclosed
Nora Radio Corporation 8,000,000 rm
Hirsch, Kupfer, Messing Co. 12,500,000 rm
Adrema Addressograph Co. 1,500,000 rm
Belieshovsky Linen House, Breslau Undisclosed
Goldstein Silk Co., Koenigsberg Undisclosed
Klein Clothing Co., Dusseldorf Undisclosed
Max Davidson Clothing Co. Undisclosed
Rothschild Textile Co., Ludwigshafen Undisclosed
Simson and Co., Munich-Gladbach Undisclosed
In every case the selling price was not divulged, but it is known that none of the principals in the transactions have been given permission to take the capital abroad. The cash received from the sale of the firms are held by banks as “frozen deposits,” which cannot be withdrawn from the country. Agents of the Gestapo, the secret state police, examine the accounts from time to time to determine whether the Jewish depositors are withdrawing too much for their immediate needs.
In general, exchange regulations, while prohibiting withdrawal of funds from the country, make a specific exception of persons agreeing to quit Germany permanently. But emigrants can withdraw the money only at the cost of surrendering 80 per cent of it to the government.
They must first pay a 25 per cent “emigration tax.” In addition, they must agree to receive the balance in so-called sperr-marks, the value of which is regulated but is always less than half the nominal value of the reichsmark.
As a result, many Jewish business men prefer to keep their money in Germany for the time being.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
