The Prague Notary and the Aryanization of Jewish Property

On 15 March 1939, German troops entered Prague and Czechoslovakia became the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. On 21 June 1939, Reichsprotektor von Neurath signed the ordinance on Jewish property: application of the Nuremberg racial criteria, mandatory declaration of assets before 31 July, a ban on Jews freely disposing of their property, and the placing of businesses under forced administration. Despoliation now took on a legal form.

At a notary's office in central Prague, a case that has become commonplace presents itself: a Jewish owner must hand over her building to a German buyer for a fraction of its value. The notary knows that his client is being coerced and that the deed covers a theft organized by the occupier.

But he has a family, partners, and a practice to protect. To refuse is to expose himself to German reprisals. To draw up the deed is to become a cog in the machinery of Aryanization. His professional impartiality is put to the test by the occupation.