Newsgroups: alt.revisionism,soc.history
Subject: Holocaust Almanac: Germans and their Jewish spoils
X-Web: http://www.nizkor.org/

Archive/File: places/germany/leipzig/leipzig.001
Last-Modified: 1994/07/15

   "Whereas many Germans walked away from the Jews, they were eager
   enough to acquire some Jewish property. After transports of Jews
   began to move out of Leipzig to the 'east,' 118 suitcases, a
   backpack, and a handbag were left behind with all their contents.
   The representative of the Finance Ministry in the area handed over
   these personal belongings to an auctioneer, who listed all the
   items, their former Jewish owners, estimated yields, names of
   German purchasers, and realized prices. Virtually everything was
   sold.<3> All over Germany, tens of thousands of Jewish apartments
   were taken over; furniture from Jewish homs in Germany and the
   Western countries graced German offices and private German
   residences; and smaller objects were distributed to the needy,
   sometimes from the killing centers from which they had been
   collected. The recipients did not ask many questions." (Hilberg,
   Perpetrators, 196-97)

   <3> Hans Klemm, auctioneer, to Oberfinanzpra"sident in Leipzig, 
       May 16, 1942, Staatsarchiv (State Archives) in Leipzig,
       Collection Hans Klemm Versteigerung, Folder 21. A transport
       of some 625 had left on January 21, 1942, a smaller one of
       300 on May 10, 1942. See the correspondence in the
       Stadtarchiv (City Archives) Leipzig, Collection
       Sonderregulung fu"r Nichtarier/Erna"hrungsamt 6. The
       suitcases were probably left behind by the January deportees.

                             Work Cited

   Hilberg, Raul. Perpetrators, Victims, Bystanders: The Jewish
   Catastrophe 1933-1945.  New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1992.

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