Faktor zur Radikalisierung der Transferpläne’, in Beneš and Kural, eds., Geschichte verstehen, pp. 180–5.37 37 Alena Mípiková and Dieter Segert, ‘Republik unter Druck’, in Tschechien, Informationen zur politischen Bildung 276, published by the Federal Office of Political Education.
38 38 Gutman, Holocaust, vol. I, p. 346.
39 39 Richard Bergern, ‘Die Juden von Danzig’, in Jüdische Revue (Mukachevo/Czechoslovakia), (October 1936).
40 40 Museum of the History of Polish Jews, ‘History of the Jewish Community in Działoszyce’, www.sztetl.org.pl/de/article/dzialoszyce/5,geschichte; Spector, ed., Jewish Life, vol. I, p. 350.
41 41 Museum of the History of Polish Jews, ‘History of the Jewish Community in Działoszyce’; Spector, ed., Jewish Life, vol. I, p. 350.
42 42 Danuta Drywa, ‘Stutthof – Stammlager’, in Benz and Distel, eds., Der Ort des Terrors, vol. VI, pp. 477–529.
43 43 ‘Sławków’, Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities in Poland, vol. VII, www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/Pinkas_poland/pol7_00356.html; Miron, ed., Ghettos, vol. II, pp. 723–4.
44 44 ‘Sławków’; Miron, ed., Ghettos, vol. II, pp. 723–4.
45 45 Gutman, Holocaust, vol. II, pp. 549–50.
46 46 Jaroslav Macek, ‘Geschichte der Grenzgebiete 1938–1945’, in Brandes and Kural,eds., Der Weg in die Katastrophe, pp. 57–75.
47 47 Christian Gerlach and Götz Aly, Das letzte Kapitel – Der Mord an den ungarischen Juden 1944–45 (Frankfurt am Main 2004), pp. 19–90.
48 48 Gutman, Holocaust, vol. I, p. 127.
49 49 Envelope stamped 14 March 1939, original owned by the author.
50 50 Spector, ed., Jewish Life, vol. II, pp. 949–50.
51 51 Nippa and Herbstreuth, Eine kleine Geschichte der Synagoge, pp. 278–82; see also Gutman, Holocaust, vol. III, pp. 1062–5.
52 52 Jaroslava Milotová, ‘Zur Geschichte der Verordnung Konstantin von Neuraths über das jüdische Vermögen’, in Theresienstädter Studien und Dokumente 2002 (Prague 2002), pp. 75–115.
53 53 Wolf Gruner, ‘Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren’, in Wolf Gruner and Jörg Osterloh, eds., Das ‘Großdeutsche Reich’ und die Juden – Nationalsozialistische Verfolgung in den ‘angegliederten’ Gebieten (Frankfurt am Main and New York 2010), p. 159.
54 54 Ladislav Lipscher, Die Juden im Slowakischen Staat (Munich and Vienna 1980), pp. 31–6.
55 55 Spector, ed., Jewish Life, vol. I, p. 184; Grünhut, Pressburg, pp. 159−201.
56 56 Lipscher, Die Juden, pp. 63−77.
57 57 Ibid., pp. 80–4; Miloslav Szabó, ‘Slowakische Rassegesetze (1939–1941)’, in Wolfgang Benz, ed., Handbuch des Antisemitismus – Judenfeindschaft in Geschichte und Gegenwart, vol. IV (Berlin and Boston 2011), p. 388.
58 58 Quoted from Büchler, Topoltschany, pp. 126−9.
59 59 Lipscher, Die Juden, p. 64.
60 60 Büchler, Topoltschany, pp. 126−9.
61 61 Gerlach and Aly, Das letzte Kapitel, pp. 48−50.
62 62 Hirsch, Als 14-jähriger durch Auschwitz-Birkenau, p. 26, and the document translated into German, from the Arrow Cross party on 7 August 1941, on the CD provided with the book.
63 63 Gerlach and Aly, Das letzte Kapitel, pp. 48−50.
64 64 Drahomír Jančík, ‘Germanisierung und Ausbeutung der tschechischen Wirtschaft und des jüdischen Vermögens zur Zeit der Okkupation’, in Beneš and Kural, eds., Geschichte verstehen, pp. 126–7.
65 65 Schoeps, ed., Lexikon des Judentums, p. 670.
66 66 ‘Bericht der Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung in Prag über die Entwicklung und die Lage der Juden im Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren vom 15. März 1939 bis zum 1. Oktober 1941’, in Theresienstädter Studien und Dokumente 1996 (Prague 1996), pp. 265–6.
67 67 Ibid.
68 68 Lucie Ondrichová, Fredy Hirsch – Von Aachen über Düsseldorf und Frankfurt am Main durch Theresienstadt nach Auschwitz-Birkenau (Konstanz 2000), p. 29.
69 69 Jaroslava Miltova, ‘Der Okkupationsapparat und die Vorbereitung der Transporte nach Łódź’, in Theresienstädter Studien und Dokumente 1998 (Prague 1998), pp. 40–69; Gottwaldt and Schulle, ‘Judendeportationen’, pp. 66–9, 73, 78, 81, 83.
70 70 See also Martina Schweibergová, ‘Hagibor: ein Ort mit lehrreicher Geschichte’: https://deutsch.radio.cz/hagibor-ein-ort-mit-lehrreicher-geschichte-8562028.
71 71 Ondrichová, Fredy Hirsch, pp. 9−35.
72 72 Schweibergová, ‘Hagibor’.
73 73 Franz Werfel, Poems, trans. Edith Abercrombie Snow (New Jersey 1945), p. 113.
74 74 Jančík, ‘Germanisierung und Ausbeutung’, pp. 124–37.
75 75 Bernhard Brunner, Der Frankreich-Komplex – Die nationalsozialistischen Verbrechen in Frankreich und die Justiz in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Frankfurt am Main 2007), pp. 31–44.
‘The Hunt for Jews Began’
Robert Büchler In summer 1940, the Slovak government began to compel the Jews, who had been excluded from the country’s social life and economy, to carry out forced labour. In autumn 1941, the conversion of the former military barracks in Sered’ and Nováky began. There, and in the existing camp at Vyhne, the Jewish population was to be isolated and concentrated. The authorities saw this as a stage on the way to the final ‘solution of the Jewish question’ in Slovakia.1
One of these camps, Nováky, was around 40 kilometres from Topol’čany, where Robert Büchler and his family lived. Many Jewish men aged between 16 and 60 were moved there from the town and forced to work.
In 1942, the rumours regarding the permanent expulsion of the Jews from Slovakia began to increase. The pro-Nazi president of Slovakia, the Catholic cleric Jozef Tiso, denied these plans. But just a few days later, on 27, 28 and 31 March, the first transports with young Jews left Topol’čany via Slovak transit camps to the East.2 ‘This came like a bolt from the blue.’ The Jews were taken completely by surprise. They couldn’t believe what was happening. ‘The community was in shock. And before we knew it, hundreds of railway wagons had been loaded up.’
The government authorities attempted to calm things with lies, saying that the expulsions would stop. The Germans were only interested in young persons capable of working. By the beginning of April, this had already been revealed to be a subterfuge.
