Life paths and biographies

“A suitcase with the bare necessities of life and ten marks in the pocket” The people who are presented here were either forced to flee or violently deported and murdered.

Only those who turned their back on territories under German rule in time were able to escape extermination. They lost all their possessions in the process. Usually, a single suitcase had to suffice for a new start.It was a question of bare survival. Whoever did not find asylum or a hiding place met their certain death. Since Hitler came to power, German Jews sought asylum abroad. Lawyers, physicians, architects, businesspeople and writers were among the refugees who found refuge in more than 30 countries.

The people who are presented here were either forced to flee or violently deported and murdered.

The German nation could have profited from their creativity if Hitler and his race ideology had not prevented this.

100 000 Jews found protection from persecution in the U. S., such as the Coburg Jew Hans J. Morgenthau. 20 000 German Jews who went to Palestine were to use their know-how and creativity for shaping the future Jewish state, such as the Coburg Jew Leo Zeilberger.

In 1938, the willingness of many states to accept refugees decreased noticeably. For the 72 000 refugees who found refuge in France, Holland and Belgium, the new homeland became a prison when Hitler’s troops marched West. Around 6 million Jews died in the concentration camps.