Excerpt from the minutes of an interdepartmental meeting, Berlin, 17 December 1935
Source: D. Yisraeli, The German Reich and Palestine , Bar Ilan University, 1974 pp. 296-98.
Department Chief Wohltat stated in his opening remarks that the discussion was not to decide whether and how to promote Jewish emigration. The purpose of the meeting was to find ways by which emigration could be achieved and to examine its advantages and disadvantages from a purely economic point of view. The Ministry of Economy intends to forward a memorandum to the Fuehrer regarding the economic aspects of the matter and will request an ultimate decision. The explanations of the Deputy Fuehrer and the representative of the Minister of Interior regarding the Fuehrer's decisions on Jewish emigration to date were not uniform. Both believed that the Fuehrer does not wish to apply pressure on the Jews to emigrate. However, whereas the representative of the Minister of Interior stated that the latest statement by Fuehrer of which he is aware is that there should be no interference in Jewish economic activity. Alternatively, such interference should be as limited as possible. The representative of the Deputy Fuehrer claimed that the Fuehrer himself had decided that first one must encourage the Jews to emigrate by allowing them to take their property along. Eventually, once the way is found by which they can do this, even if it involves a loss of some of the property, they should be forced to emigrate.
