MAYORS (ON) LEAVE - TERROR BEGINS
Today in Berlin: 13 March, 1933
The Vossiche Zeitung - or Tante Voss (Auntie Voss) as it was lovingly referred to - was one of Berlin’s oldest and leading newspapers. Directed first and foremost at safely middle-class liberals, it was nevertheless read by all - the paper’s reliability and thoroughness exemplified high professional standards and made it trustworthy as a source.
So when on 13 March, 1933 a small and seemingly rather inconsequential little note appeared in its afternoon edition, informing the readers that several of Berlin’s borough mayors and city councillors had just “gone on a 14-day-long leave from work”, the news could have sunk in without leaving much ripple. Some of them would not be returning to their posts, the note said. The text named:
Mayor of Lichtenberg, (Alfred) Siggel
Mayor of Weißensee, (Emil) Pfannkuch
Deputy Mayor of Weißensee, Councillor Reimann
Mayor of Kreuzberg, (Carl) Herz
Mayor of Wedding, (Carl) Leid
Mayor of Prenzlauer Berg, (Otto) Ostrowski.
But there was more to that note than it appeared to the eye. This was no coincidence. All these men had one thing in common: they no longer fitted into the new political landscape. Or, to put it crudely: the Nazis hated them…