Carl Laemmle LAEMMLE`S LIST

Udo BayerLaemmle's ListCarl Laemmle's struggle for affidavits for Jewish refugees "I am doing what my heart dictates me to do and I do it unstintingly..."first published in FILM HISTORY 4/1998 - Courtesy of S. Wiliams, Indiana University Press, USABefore Carl Laemmle's death on 24 September 1939, one of his great humanitarian deeds was the granting of affidavits for persecuted Jews. He wrote that he had never felt so much sympathy for any one thing in his life, and had only done what his heart had dictated. Until now the only published information on this has been the statement by the former chief executive of the Jewish Oberrat in Stuttgart, J. Wissmann1, who mentions more than three-hundred affidavits. The most important source of documentation is to be found in the National Archives in Washington DC.The discovery of these documents was accomplished toward the end of 1994 thanks to KarinSchick of Laupheim. Her research brought to light 45 documents consisting mostly ofLaemmle'scorrespondence with American officials from November 1936 until May 1939. Attimes the actual files were not available, only index cards with date and names of the personsconcerned; the actual files can be found in a branch of the Archives in Maryland. We could not determine the reason for the gaps in the material stored in the Archives.It is acknowledged that the persecution of Jews in the territories controlled by the Third Reichwas unique, and is hardly comparable to the many reasons for migration and asylum seekingtoday. The one and only reason for their persecution was their ethnic origin, and was completely unrelated to any of their actions; for them this reason was immutable. Emigration was thus their sole option to escape with their lives. In spite of increasing obstacles set up by Germanauthorities, and in spite of increasing restrictions enacted by possible guest countries, emigration was possible to some extent until the second half of 1941.The many American publications regarding