61340 Vorabseiten_e - Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz

if the owner or the personally liable associate responsible for the company was
Jewish under the terms of the Nuremberg Laws. Limited companies were
«Jewish» if they had a Jewish person on the board of directors or if Jews held at
least 25% of the share capital. 4 «Aryanisation» therefore affected both
ownership of property and staff policy. This was all the more applicable when
the Nazis tried to replace the term «Aryanisation» with «de-Semitisation»
(«Entjudung») from 1939 on, thus shifting the emphasis of their policy from the
transfer of property to ethnic cleansing. 5 However, the legal definition must not
be allowed to obscure the fact that the stigma of being termed a «Jewish» firm
and the consequences this brought with it were based on neither legal nor
«objective» guidelines. 6 It was drawn up only in 1938 after a 5-year phase of
economic boycotting, banning from certain professions and legal discrimination
that began as soon as the Nazis came to power.
As early as 1933, Jewish businessmen were being made to sell their companies.
During the first few years, however, the firms were mostly left in peace by the
authorities. The owners were free to decide to whom they would sell and the
selling price was agreed between the two parties. Even if they were based at the
time on the agreement of both parties, such take-overs cannot be termed «fair
deals» without closer investigation. The contracts were not drawn up on a legal
basis and under free-market conditions. Instead, the situation was one in which
the Jewish businessmen were under great pressure to sell. Furthermore, in view
of the currency and tax restrictions it was difficult to use the income from the
sale. The behaviour of the purchasers in this situation is the decisive factor in
evaluating the events. Such behaviour ranged from those unscrupulous profiteers
who exploited the situation by denouncing or intimidating Jewish
businessmen, e.g., by involving Nazi lawyers in negotiations, to those so-called
«silent associates» who grabbed the opportunity for a purchase below market
value and often included long-standing business partners of the Jewish owners
who were in difficulty, and to those purchasers who attempted to ensure that
the vendor received a fair sum and were even prepared, under certain circumstances,
to circumvent the regulations. 7
From the middle of 1936 on, sales contracts had to be submitted to the NSDAP
regional economic advisors (Gauwirtschaftsberater). Towards the end of 1937,
pressure on large firms in particular increased, and from 1938 on take-overs had
to be approved by the authorities. At this stage it was possible to sell a firm only
at a price well below its real value. Economic persecution turned a new corner
after the annexation of Austria («Anschluss») in March 1938, when within a few
weeks thousands of Austrian companies were «Aryanised» or liquidated. This
«uncontrolled Aryanisation» was followed by state regulation and an organised
«Aryanisation» which manifested the state’s economic interest. The authorities
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