In October 1933, a group of prominent German Jews wrote to Chancellor Adolf Hitler seeking clarification about the future of Jews in Germany:

Dear Mr Reich Chancellor,

“The position of German Jewry today, as it has been shaped by the German people, is wholly intolerable, both as regards their legal position and their economic existence, and also as regards their public standing and their freedom of religious action…

Even where no law applies, economic activity has been made extraordinarily difficult. Even if Jewish activity in the economic field has not been limited directly by the law, there is in practice in all of Germany an anti-Jewish boycott. National, local and public enterprises have been forbidden to buy from Jews, while the Nazi Party has made a similar ruling for all members of the NSDAP. In many cases even low-level Jewish employees have been removed from economic enterprises, to say nothing of Jewish members of their management…

This means the German Jew has been sentenced to a slow but certain death by starvation. Added to this is the defamation of the Jews, whose good name is sullied, which prejudices the people even more sharply against the Jews and robs them of the air they need to breathe…

The position of German Jewry must be perceived as altogether desperate by the most objective of observers the world over, and one must understand that the German National Government might all too easily be suspected of aiming deliberately at the destruction of German Jewry. This false concept must be disproved with concrete arguments if an information campaign is to have any effect.

Orthodox Jews are unwilling to abandon the conviction that it is not the aim of the German government to destroy the German Jews. Even if some individuals harbour such an intention, we do not believe that it has the approval of the Fuhrer and the Government of Germany. But if we should be mistaken – if you, Mr Reich Chancellor, and the National Government which you head… have indeed set themselves the ultimate aim of the elimination of German Jewry from the German people, then we do not wish to cling to illusions any longer, and would prefer to know the bitter truth.

It is in your interest, and in that of the whole German people, to tell us the truth openly. We would then prefer to consider your intention as fact and make our arrangements accordingly.

We confess that this would be an unspeakable tragedy for us. We have learned to love the German soil. It contains the graves of our ancestors, of many great and holy Jewish men and women. Our link with this soil goes back through history for 2,000 years. We have learned to love the German sun. All through the centuries, it has let our children grow and mature and has added special and good elements to their Jewish characteristics.

And we have learned to love the German people. At times it hurt us, particularly in the Middle Ages. But we were also present at its rise. We feel closely linked to its culture. It has become a part of our intellectual being and has given us German Jews a stamp of our own…

We do aspire to living space within the living space of the German people, the possibility of practising our religion and carrying out our occupations without threats and without abuse. In accordance with our religious duties, we will always remain loyal to the Government of the State. Within the framework of the German people, the German Jew will gladly take part in the task of reconstructing the German nation…”