System Category: Involved Actors

People persecuted as Jews were required, from 1939 onward, to join the Reichsvereinigung der Juden(Reich Association of Jews in Germany) Compulsory association of all Jewish organisations and communities, founded in June 1939. More (Reich Association of Jews) in Germany Founded in the same year by order of the Nazi regime, the association was intended to act as a centralized representative body for Jews in Germany. The association was controlled by the Gestapo(EN) Politische Polizei in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus, die politische Gegner*innen sowie Jüdinnen*Juden überwachte und verfolgte., which also used it to access the assets of deportees from the financial administration.

In “Heimeinkaufsverträgen” (home purchase contracts), for instance, elderly Jews were forced to transfer most of their remaining assets to the Reichsvereinigung(Reich Association of Jews in Germany) Compulsory association of all Jewish organisations and communities, founded in June 1939. More in exchange for supposedly age-appropriate accommodation in the Ghetto TheresienstadtThe Theresienstadt “Altersghetto” (ghetto for the elderly) was established in the old garrison town in what is today Terezín (Czech Republic) as the largest concentration camp (KZ) in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. More. The Gestapo(EN) Politische Polizei in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus, die politische Gegner*innen sowie Jüdinnen*Juden überwachte und verfolgte. had direct access to the accounts into which these sums were paid.

In addition, the Jewish Community of Berlin, as part of the Reichsvereinigung(Reich Association of Jews in Germany) Compulsory association of all Jewish organisations and communities, founded in June 1939. More, had to cooperate with the financial administration in assigning new tenants to apartments belonging to Jewish former owners or tenants who had been deported.

In this difficult situation, Jewish organizations in all areas of life tried to help those being persecuted despite the most adverse circumstances.

The Devisenstellen (foreign exchange offices) were established during the Weimar Republic to prevent capital flight abroad. During the Nazi era, the Devisenstellen became an instrument for plundering Jews and other persecuted groups. Together with the customs authorities, they monitored the export of household goods and meticulously checked the items packed in containers and suitcases against the lists of household goods compiled by the persecuted.

Through security orders, the Devisenstellen were able to withdraw access to accounts and also determine the release of small amounts of money. In addition, assets held in accounts controlled by the Devisenstellen could only be exchanged for foreign currency at exorbitant exchange rates.

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The Wohnsitzfinanzämter (local tax offices of residence) were an important instrument used to monitor Berlin’s Jewish population and plunder them through tax laws. Based on the Verordnung über die Anmeldung des Vermögens von Juden (Decree on the Registration of Jewish Property) dated 26 April 1938, the offices were informed in detail about the financial circumstances of those being persecuted. They were also responsible for collecting compulsory levies such as the Reichsfluchtsteuer and the Judenvermögensabgabe.

Many Jews had to sell parts of their property even before deportation or emigration in order to pay these levies. Until 1939, the tax offices also issued Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigungen, which had to be presented in order to obtain permission to emigrate.

The Finanzamt Moabit-West and the Vermögensverwertungsstelle repeatedly used the information collected by the tax offices on the property of the persecuted to track down assets.

Between 1939 and 1941, a Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung (Central Office for Jewish Emigration) existed in Berlin. It was located at Kurfürstenstraße 116. Here, Gestapo officers and officials from the Reich financial administration worked hand in hand under the direction of Adolf Eichmann to plunder Jews who wanted to leave Germany.

Before emigration, outstanding tax debts were collected and Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigungen (certificate of clearance) were issued here. Only with such a certificate confirming that they had no debts to the state could people leave the country. With the emigration ban in October 1941, the Zentralstelle ceased its activities.

From August 1933 onwards, a special department within the Finanzamt Moabit-West was responsible for confiscating the assets of expatriates throughout the Reich. Under the leadership of Oberregierungsrat (senior government official) Willy Böttcher, the department developed into an effective tool for robbing those who had fled Nazi persecution in Germany. The department was initially called the Ausbürgerungsabteilung (Denaturalization Department) and was later renamed the Dienststelle für die Einziehung verfallener Vermögenswerte Ausgebürgerter (Office for the Confiscation of Forfeited Assets of Denaturalized Persons).

This office was tasked with seizing all assets – i.e., cash, bank accounts, stocks, and property – that had not already been used to cover the Reichsfluchtsteuer (Reich Flight Tax) or the Judenvermögensabgabe (Jewish Property Levy). Until then, the theft of property had been regulated primarily by the Expatriation Act of 26 July 1933.

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During deportations from German territory, the Nazi state simplified this theft with the Elfte Verordnung zum Reichsbürgergesetz (Eleventh Decree to the Reich Citizenship Law) of 25 November 1941: with this amendment, the state revoked the citizenship and property of all German Jews living abroad.

In 1942, the Ausbürgerungsabteilung of the Finanzamt Moabit-West was transferred to the newly established Vermögensverwertungsstelle of the OFP Berlin-Brandenburg.

From that point on, this office was solely responsible for confiscating the assets of refugees and deportees from Berlin and Brandenburg.

In 1944, more than 200 people were employed by the Vermögensverwertungsstelle to transfer the last possessions of the deportees to the state treasury. Until Germany’s surrender, they diligently participated in plundering the persecuted. They sold real estate, inspected apartments, and had them cleared out, as well as commissioning auctions or auctioning items themselves.