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THE   CANADIAN   JEWISH   REVIEW
NOVEMBER 21 1911
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Throughout the world more people buy
Canadian Whisky
than any other brand
of whisky exported
from any country
Sure
One Who Survived
�Y CIMAtft KHMI0T, IN THE JEWISH UONTllR
The Canadian Jewish Review is still the only Jewish
publication in Canada printed in any language reaching
the Jewish community which is not sponsored by a
group or an organization and which is able to claim
membership in the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Horace: Si fractus inlabatur
orbit',','. ("If the heavens broke and fell.")
In 1916, my parents lived jri southwestern Berlin, a district that formerly was inhabited by the upper middle-class, but it had become unfashionable some time before, Most of the Jews had moved to a better neighborhood and we were, so to speak, the only "survivors!' in that area. For many years I was the only Jew in my class. The district was already quite anti-Semi, tic, although in the "better" way characteristic of the era of William II.
When the anti-Semitic Deutsch-volkische Schutz und Trutzbund started its work, the leader delivered his speeches in the big hall of our school � the Askanisches Gymnasium. He would stick anti-Semitic labels on the wall. When we few Jews found them, we either took them off or we asked the principal to remove them. H� would do it � without any word of approval or disapproval.
My relationship with my fellow pupils was strange. Friendships could not be formed but neither were real hostilities expressed. I managed to get along fairly well. In most of my .subjects I had to work as hard as any of the other students, but in Greek I stood at the top of the class. Therefore,
when anti-Semitic remarks became too annoying, I simply refused to translate a difficult passage or to correct grammar. Peace wad quickly restored, for the penalty for incomplete homework was severe. At this time, I and a very good friend of mine were expelled from the Boy Scouts. It was not a pleasant. experience but I did not really mind because I was not overly fond of the manner in which the group was conducted. I soon found that it was delightful to have my Sunday mornings to myself again. However, it came as a shock to me when I left the school that I did not receive ah award from the principal. {I was the second-best student and only the first and I had received "absolute maturity" certificates.) The third-best student, instead of me, got an award
�  for gymnastics.
My days at the university were non-political. I stayed away from all the bustle and lived completely as a student. Since my family had enough money, I was not compelled
�  as some others were � to work my  way  through   the   university. No other thought occurred to me than how to pursue my study of economics and philosophy.
I attached myself particularly to Dr. Jastrow, one of the full professors of the University of Berlin. Around him a circle was formed which was politically liberal and
du MAURIER
many of his acquaintances were among the most illustrious intellectuals of Berlin. He was an exacting instructor but a very kind man who invited some of us to-his home. There was a real friendship with our teacher which lasted until his death. Those years were happy and they were not wasted, The false picture of the Heidelberg student had been outlived completely in Germany after the First World War. Some, indeed, made a precarious living, fighting hard against rising costs during the period of inflation.
A semester in Freiburg, where one could sense the unmistakable aura of the Middle Ages, left a lasting impression on me: the beautiful cathedral built of red sandstone; the writings of the "overlord of all wise men," Aristotle; in the course on economics the dialectics of Thomas Aquinas against the taking of interest. Ril-ke's "Book of Hours" was used in lectures on the philosophy of religion to introduce us to the spiritual world of a monk absorbed in himself and his god.
When I arrived in Munich in the summer of 1923 and reported to the police � everybody had to do it � I was asked about my religion, despite the fact that the constitution forbade this. When I left, I saw troops with guns and swastika slings riding through the streets. This was my first encounter with the Nazis who. had now stripped off the politer ways of anti-Semitism.
So the years of study passed. It was difficult to find a job. These were the years of the stabilization of the currency, the years of unemployment; a few months of unpaid work in a private bank, then an unimportant job in a factory was the best I could find. But when I arrived at the factory, I was told that I would not get a salary: they were just about to dismiss the employees. After a few weeks, however, I received a few pennies, on which I could not have lived if I had to.
What was more, I had to spend two and a half hours every day getting to and from my job. My superior was �, former lieutenant in thejogi&tics-^ranch^ the. army, a typical example of military officialdom, who did not even have the meager education of the Prussian officer; he had acquired only the malice of the professional noncommissioned officer. But it could not be helped: there was nothing better and I stayed on until the factory closed because the market was at a standstill.
One day my telephone rang. It was one of my old teachers from the University, Dr. Schumacher. "Doctor, what are you doing?" he asked. "Do you want a job in the statistical office?" I accepted with pleasure. I went there the next day. The head of the department received me. "You are a Jew?" "Yes." "You will find it very difficult here. By the way, I thought your dissertation very bad!" (It had been marked "valde laudabile" by the philosophical faculty of the University of Berlin.) But I took the job. I had to. This was an .important thing in 1926.
The work was very interesting. I had the feeling of being in the heart of economic life. All the economic magazines . were available and I found ali of them fascinating. I learned to understand contemporary economics, and I might have made up my mind to stay there forever, if something had not occurred that called for the end of this work, too.
A colleague of mine, apparently a protege^ of those "higher up," asked for the explanation of a certain subject on which I was working. There were some mathematical problems involved and the matter could not. be explained within an hour or so. I had a short manuscript about it in my desk and handed it to him. After two weeks I received it back. In a few weeks it was published under his name. I had to report this because otherwise it would appear that I had done nothing at all. "Wliat would yon want, if the matter were to be settled 'outside of the office'?" asked the bead of the department.
"I would insist that the magazine where the article was published give either the name of the government department as authority for the article or my name as author: which of the two does not make any difference to roe,"
"Yo� almqp iw HA tttt *t
everything! I^ook here, what you see in this publication" � and he showed me another one � "is by the president and signed with hii name. They are not his ideas, either, but: my own, That is;how. things are herel"
It was intiniated that I would get a promotion if I said nothing and I received the passport of an official instead of my regular pass-port, but I quit. A fortnight before I left, the plagiarist had to leave, too; not because of his sins but to avoid the possibility that after my departure and no longer under the secrecy imposed by my office, I woujld reveal his secret.
This jneident destroyed my satisfaction ' in government service and, at the age of twenty-six, I entered my father's firm. It was an old firm in the real estate business, established by my grandfather more than fifty years before and run by the family. It had a good clientele. After two and a half years I became a partner. The firm . maintained its. high place although competition was strong. We made money and I had enough leisure to occupy myself with my favorite pastime � reading.
This was not to last, however. Beginning in 1933 the firm was subjected to a series of persecutions that led to its ultimate ruin and sale. The Labor Front began to harass us � and other firms � making demands that we would not meet. It was finally demanded of us that we give up our business. We refused. There was no law that could take the business out of the family control after more than fifty years.
Then a series of attacks having to do with our using the Nazi salute began. First we did not use it, and the Labor Front ordered us to do so. We complied with their order and were then subjected to Gestapo questioning about it. They did not like a Jewish firm to use the salute, but they could do nothing since the Labor Front had ordered us to do so.
Then the newspapers began to print vile things about many of the partners of the firm. By March, 1938, all the newspapers refused to accept our advertisements without which our business was doomed; By tile middle of April the business was sold and, at the beginning of August, it was firmly in other hands, (Our only consolation was that this owner was subsequently ruined when the Nazi regime fell.)
The bell of our house in Grune-wald rang one summer day in 1938. A policeman stood outside. What did he want? Just to ask the maid whether Dr. Schmidt was still there and what he was doing. He was told that Dr. Schmidt was there and continuing his usual business. The policeman listened and went away. On October 31st of that same year, a policeman stood again before our house and rang the bell. What did he want? Our German shepherd dog barked loudly and there had been some complaints from the neighbors. He was sorry but he had either to take the animal with him or it had to be given away.
For seventeen years dogs had been in our house and they had never barked too loudly. Should we give the dog away or not? Should %ve take up the fight with the almighty police or not? If we did, then we would be "previously convicted" and it would be impossible to emigrate to another country. The dog was taken to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, This organization asked for money to feed him and, after four days, the dog found a new master.
On November 10th, I went to the dentist and had two teeth pulled. While I sat in the chair, I heard the sirens of the fire engines returning from putting out fires in synagogues. In the afternoon I walked through the city investigating the rumor that the stores .had been pillaged. It was troe.
At a quarter past seven, the bell at the garden door rang like an alarm dock. We did not want to answer but it rang loader. When I opened the door two stocky detectives stood there. "Is Dr. Schmidt here?" they asked. "Yes, I am heA They searched me for weapons � a ridiculous thing to do. "Come with us!" "Whyt" I received no answer. I went for some bread and a few toilet article*; They followed me step by step. When I went into the bathroom, one of them
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