The Bombers and the Bombed: Allied Air War Over Europe 1940-1945

by Richard Overy

A decree in December 1940 instructed all local labor offices to ensure that no compensation for loss of earnings would be paid to Jewish workers, on the grounds that the war “to a not inconsiderable extent can be traced back to the influence of World Jewry.”44 A second order on July 23, 1941, excluded German Jews or Jewish-owned businesses from making any claim for damage compensation under the “War Damage Order.”45 Efforts were made from early in the RAF campaign to help the bombed-out (Obdachlose) by housing them in apartments owned by German Jews. In the Rhineland city of Soest the decision was taken in the late autumn of 1940, and although the Interior Ministry highlighted the possible legal problems with doing so, the policy of replacing Jewish householders with “Aryans” became established by the time of the heavy raids in the spring of 1942.46 In Cologne the Jewish occupiers were removed to crude barracks while Jewish houses and apartments were redistributed. The Party Chancellery confirmed in April 1942 that if British raids continued, “we will pursue this measure completely and clear out all the Jewish homes.”