D O C . 3 0 I M M I G R A T I O N F R O M T H E E A S T 1 1 1
only ones affected would be those poor and unfortunate ones, who in recent
months made this way to Germany under inhumane privations, in order to look for
work here. Only these elements, certainly harmless to the German national econo-
my, would fill the concentration camps, and there perish physically and spiritually.
Then one will complain about the self-made “parasitic existences” who no longer
know how to take their place in a normally functioning economy. The misguided
policy of suddenly laying off thousands of Eastern European Jewish laborers—who
were coerced into coming to Germany during the war—and thus depriving them of
their means of livelihood, leaving them with nothing to eat and systematically de-
nying them job opportunities, has indeed forced people into the black market to
keep themselves and their families from starving. The German economy, too, is
certainly best served if the public supports the efforts of those who try to channel
Eastern European Jewish immigrants into productive work (as, e.g., the often men-
tioned “Jewish Labor Office” does). Any “order of expulsion”—now so vigorously
demanded—would only have the effect that the worst and most harmful elements
remain in the country, while those willing to work would be driven into bitter mis-
ery and despair.
The public conscience is so dulled toward appeals for humanity that it no longer
even senses the horrible injustice which is here being contemplated. I refrain from
going into details. But it is disturbing when even leading politicians do not consider
how much their proposed treatment of Eastern European Jews will damage Germa-
ny’s political and economic position. Has it already been forgotten how much the
deportation of Belgian laborers undermined the moral credibility of Germany? And
today, Germany’s situation is incomparably more critical. Despite all efforts, it is
extremely difficult to reestablish the disrupted international relations; in all nations
only a few intellectuals among the peoples of the world are initiating some first at-
tempts; the hope for new economic connections (e.g., the material help of America)
is still very weak today. The expulsion of the Eastern European Jews—resulting in
unspeakable misery—would only appear to the whole world as new evidence of
“German barbarism,” and provide it with a pretext, in the name of humanity, to
hamper Germany’s reconstruction.
The recuperation of Germany can truly not be accomplished by the use of force
against a small and defenseless fraction of the population.
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