Rezensiert für H-Soz-u-Kult von PD Dr. Guido Müller
Dear Professor Stoltzfus,
Following up on your interesting posting about Jochen Klepper, you are of course right that Klepper's wife was not directly threatened by the Nazis' edicts in force at the end of 1942. It was his step-daughter who was threatened with deportation. My reading of Klepper's diary, "Under the Shadow of Thy Wings", is that he was so attached to this daughter, and so fearful of the consequences to his wife's health, let alone his, if the daughter were deported, that he and they chose to commit suicide together. No doubt, as you point out, the crucial meeting with Eichmann and the failure to gain exemption for the daughter, despite all his prominent connections, let alone his literary achievements, was profoundly depressing. Klepper saw himself as an outcast much earlier, He had hoped that his military service in the Balkans would rehabilitate him, and so was all the more outraged and concerned when he was compulsorily demobilized in 1942 as being unworthy to bear arms for Germany, because off his alliance with a Jewish wife.
As for his connection with the church in Nikolassee in south-west Berlin - a very fashionable neighbourhood, there can be no doubt that this community did not exactly warm to him. After the war, a suitable memorial was erected on the family's tomb, but the parish history written some years later, remarked merely that "In late 1942 we were saddened by the sudden death of our distinguished parishioner J.K". And it is clear from this history pamphlet that in 1945 virtually all the chief members of the parish fled westwards and were never seen again. One can presume therefore that they could be expected to be supporters of the late regime As to your wider question about why the Nazis never changed this regulation, I am at present reading through Victor Klemperer's 2nd volume of "I will bear witness" for 1942-45. Such an acute observer might well have something to say on this paerticula topic and if so, I will let you know. But I doubt if the churches had any direct influence on the regime's decision to defer deporting such intermarried Jews.
Certainly the Catholic church was strongly opposed to any form of compulsory divorce, and could be presumed to favour the maintenance of the marriage bond, as well as the release of any intermarried Jews who had been arrested and held for possible deportation. I would be interested to know if you know of any cases where Gentile partners were also arrested or deported along with their Jewish spouses, or whether the blanket ruling was 100% firm.
To what extent do you personally believe the Rosenstrasse protest was a significant deterrent to the Gestapo's plans?
Best wishes
John Conway
jconway@interchange.ubc.ca
Quelle = Email <H-Soz-u-Kult>
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