I’ve posted twice on this, here and here. This could be the last post or the second, depending on what other thoughts I have.
I had never wondered, but I should have, how the Jews of Germany and Austria worked every day under the Nazis before they were expelled. One thing that comes across in about the first 60 pages is the daily hardships, and sometimes real suffering, that the Jews had to deal with.
Here is one story from the author:
I refuse to let the political situation stop me from my studies. I had taken both state exams and passed with top marks. The final exam, and I would be a doctor of law, qualified to serve not only as a lawyer but also as a judge. I felt that if I got my degree, if I was trained, had a degree, got a certificate, I would have a much easier time immigrating to another country.
In April 1938 [DRH note: the Anschluss had happened the previous month] I went to the university to collect the final exam papers and to find out the date of my medical exam. The young clerk there, actually someone I knew, said: “You will not take the exam, Edith. You are no longer welcome at our university.” He gave me my papers and my grades. “Go well.”
For about five years, I had studied law, constitutions, torts, psychology, economics, political theory, history, philosophy. I had written papers, attended lectures, analyzed legal cases, studied with the judge three times a week to prepare for my medical examination. And now they won’t let me take it.
My legs are tied. I leaned on his desk for support.
“But…but…this final exam is all I need for my degree!”
He turned his back on me. I could feel his sense of triumph, his genuine satisfaction in destroying my life. It smelled, I tell you—like sweat, like lust.
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