The law regarding domestic help came as no surprise, but we were nevertheless shocked by it. We will have to part from some beloved, loyal helpers who have become as close as family during long years of service, sharing our joys and sorrows. We stood firm at the bitter moments when we had to part from people very dear to us. We have learned to cherish bygone hours of harmony and other joys now lost to us, to carry their memory through life so as to overcome the suffering of the present… For those among us who view the events from a wide perspective, Jewish fate in Germany is the fulfillment of a natural law… Our grandmothers and grandfathers had for the most part to lead a life filled with hardship and worries, under most difficult conditions. Their economic advance, accomplished through hard work and perseverance within two generations at the most, reached such a high level that it could only lead to decline, as nature tolerates neither polarisation nor stagnation. The aspiration of many to gain worldly assets and imaginary values proved - as always - to be futile. We can proudly claim that the majority of Jews reacted sensibly to the reversal in their civil existence. One can see especially in Palestine that a regression of civilisation can lead to cultural regeneration…
A large segment of Jewish women have found their way back to a simple life of hard work. The loss of domestic help is the least of the troubles we have encountered in recent years. But we shall not do our work out of resignation, out of a feeling that in view of the enormous hardships we face the employment of this or that maid makes no difference to us. We shall accept the harsher circumstances voluntarily. We shall let those few domestic workers left – the older Aryan ones as well as those young Jewish girls who are becoming rarer and rarer because of the emigration rush – to households who need them most because of age, illness or professional need. But every woman who can do without domestic help should regard it as an honour to perform the work herself…
