On 7 August
1941, the general duty of work for all male Jews aged 14 to 60, as well as a
number of other anti-Jewish laws, became effective in the territory of Eastern
Galicia and Lviv. According to the order, all the relevant persons were to
register with the Labour Office; moreover, the age limit was lowered to 12
years. Those who evaded the duty of work were threatened with a penalty of up
to 10 years in prison.
To register
and organize mediation in the use of Jewish workers, the Lemberg Jewish Labour
Office (ger. Arbeitsamt Lemberg
Judeneinsatz) was established. It was located in the Markiyan Shashkevych school
building on Zamknena street 8 and later moved to the Mikołaj Rej school on present-day Pid Dubom street 1.
The
institution was managed by Heinz Weber, a German, and the rest of the staff
were exclusively Jews. They had their own card index of those registered.
Persons who had found more or less permanent jobs, were given special
certificates. Efforts were chiefly made to get jobs in the organizations and
enterprises working for the Wehrmacht.
In the
absence of a permanent job, registered workers had to come in due time to the
Labour Office, in whose yard employers from different firms, institutions and
military units chose people they needed for work. Employers were obliged to
provide information on changes in their Jewish personnel every week. If a
person was not registered or lost his/her official job, he/she became an
"antisocial element" and was the first candidate to be taken to a
concentration camp. However, in the face of police tyranny, even the
availability of an official job, "useful for German economy", did not
secure from such a fate at all. German and Jewish police could neglect certificates
and seize people just on the city streets. Thus, many workers did not get to
their work places, which, consequently, adversely affected the work of
institutions and firms, many of which worked for the German army.
To correct the
situation, on 28 November 1941 a special decree of the governor of the district
of Galicia, Karl Lasch, was issued forbidding to get the Jews, who had proper
labour certificates, involved in other work. In mid-March 1942, this order was duplicated
by his successor, Otto von Wächter.
So, in view
of the situation, on 13 March 1942 a special decree of the governor of the district
of Galicia, Otto von Wächter, was issued; it was forbidden to get the Jews, who
had proper labour certificates, involved in other work. In late March 1942, on
the order of the statshauptman, i. e. the city governor, Egon Höller, a
re-registration of all persons obliged to work was carried out. According to
it, each working person was to receive a personal case, a new armband with a
red letter "A" and a case number, as well as a new certificate (ger. Meldekarte). In addition, the immediate
family members of such A-Jude (working Jew) were given armbands
with blue letters and the husband's number.
As a result
of the re-registration, the Jewish Labour Office finally took over control of
the distribution of labour forces in the ghetto from the Judenrat’s Department
of Labour, and also became the center of corruption as among the Jewish
community of that time a belief was spread that the presence of such a
certificate would enable "useful" workers to survive the wartime
calamity.
Several
months later, in late June 1942, the Jewish Labour Office was closed, and the
lists of workers prepared there were used by the police to carry out the
so-called "Great Action" in August 1942, i. e. the deportation of
more than 40,000 people to the Bełżec death camp.
