On 22 December 1938 the SS Security Service orders that the scrolls and sacred objects looted from synagogues must not fall into Jewish hands again1BArch, R 58/6562. This document has been translated from German.
Telex from the SD Main Office, SS-Standartenführer Dr Six, dated 22 December 1938 (copy)2From the file titled ‘Subject File: Telexes’ it is not possible to identify the person to whom the telex was addressed.
Accepted on 10 January 1939 by3Incomplete.
Re: Jewish written documents in the rag trade
Under the reference code II PA/2477/C, the Gestapo Main Office, in consultation with the SD Main Office, issued the following decree to all State Police regional headquarters on 17 December 1938:
In the South Hanover Gau of Braunschweig, Jewish scrolls and writings were found on the premises of various scrap dealers. In part, these items came from synagogues and had been passed on to the dealers to be pulped. To prevent such Jewish scrolls from finding their way back into Jewish hands or to keep written materials that are important to the Gestapo from being destroyed, I ask, in concert with the local SD offices, that spot checks be made on the premises of individual scrap dealers, and that any Jewish scrolls located there that came from synagogues, and other written materials and ritual objects [that] obviously derive from lootings from synagogues, Jewish cultural associations, and others, be safeguarded. The inspection and safeguarding of the objects handed over to the scrap dealers must also extend in particular to valuable Germanic sacred objects that had conceivably been preserved in synagogues in individual cases.
Reports on the resulting and secured materials are to be made at once. You are requested to notify the State Police regional headquarters of any observations that become known there and to ask that you be informed about the items that have been secured.
The results are to be reported.