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7 What They Were Running from no one shall be subject to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. —Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 5, 1948 When Julius Garfunkel moved his family from the oppressive confines of Osterode to the comparative freedom of berlin, he left all his furniture behind . In a bold testment to his belief in a prosperous future, he spent a fortune on a plush new sofa, a majestic dining room table of fine German wood, and elegant headboards for the brand new beds. Within months of Hans’s departure on the Kindertransport, Julius would have to move out of the airy, spacious apartment on Kufsteiner Strasse to smaller quarters. In the spring of 1939, all Jews were forced out of their homes and either had to live in designated Judenhäuser (Jews’ houses) or in shared apartments. Often they had to move repeatedly, typically into progressively smaller quarters where they might have to share a room with others.1 Paula Garfunkel referred to one of their moves in a letter to her son in April 1941: “I have a lot of work because we have to move again. Our landlady is giving up her larger apartment. I am very sorry that we have to give up this lovely room. I felt very comfortable there. Also, the people we lived with were very nice.” What she did not explain was that Jews had a mere five days’ notice before being evicted from their apartment—and that they had already moved twice when she wrote this note. They had to scurry about looking for a new residence , a room in one of the few remaining houses owned by Jews. They not only had to find a place to live but also had to dispose of much of their furniture as they moved to a smaller home. Although the phrase had not yet been invented,they were effectively internally displaced persons—refugees in their own homeland.2 In the two and a half months between Kristallnacht and the day Hans and Ilse left Germany on the Kindertransport, the vise that had been squeezing German Jews tightened a few more notches. Immediately after the november pogrom, Jews were banned from German movie houses, theaters, concert halls, and cabarets. The only available entertainment was performances put What They Were Running from / 111 on by the Jewish Cultural league. With so many Jewish musicians and actors out of work, the league developed a diverse repertoire—notable for the absence of “Aryan” music—in major cultural centers such as berlin. On november 12, 1938, the German government issued its Decree on the Exclusion of Jews from German Economic life,which banned Jews from the few occupations they could still practice. In early December, the Decree on the Utilization of Jewish Assets ordered the “Aryanization” of any businesses that remained in Jewish hands. And as of January 1, 1939, Jews either had to have a recognizably Jewish first name or they had to add “Israel” or “Sarah” to their name.3 Those Jews who still lived in Germany at the beginning of 1939 became increasingly frantic in their search for a country to which they could immigrate . They lined up daily at foreign consulates, seeking to immigrate anywhere—Peru, Australia, the United States. Ilse’s parents left for China— not a moment too soon, for the Jews of Stettin were the first German Jews to be deported. In february 1940, a full year and a half before the systematic and virtually complete expulsion of Germany’s Jews began, the Jews of Stettin were sent to the lublin region of Poland. The New York Times reported on the event on february 14: It was reported reliably today that all Jews in Stettin, totaling between 800 and 900, were rounded up early today and were being transported by railroad to an unknown destination, possibly the lublin district of Poland.This was the first reported mass transport of Jews from the old Reich. . . . nazi party officials and policemen appeared yesterday at the doors of Jews in Stettin and nearby towns and told each one to pack a single suitcase with clothes, take a bundle of food and cooking utensils and prepare to leave within eight hours. before dawn buses picked them up and took them to trains.They were not allowed to take money.4 Despite all their efforts, the Garfunkels were not able to leave berlin. Hans could not have imagined how...

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