Coercion
Joachim Weinert is both shoved and stood up by bureaucracy
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"I reserve the right to take criminal measures according to § 33 Dev. VO [Foreign Exchange Act] and grant you a period of three days to attend to the matter."
VIENNA
Within the first few months after the annexation of Austria by the Nazis, Dr. Joachim Weichert, a Czech-born lawyer, lost most of his clients. He had no choice but to compile the documents necessary for emigration. In June, the family was notified by the Consulate General of the United States that valid affidavits and other documents had arrived for them from America. Nevertheless, due to the fact that the Czech quota was exhausted for the time being, they were put on a waiting list and told they wouldn’t receive visas for the next eight months. By August 22nd, it had been almost two weeks since Dr. Weichert was ordered by the Devisenstelle (financial administrative office in charge of supervising monetary transactions and emigration) in Vienna to submit within one week an itemized list of his assets. In this official communication from August 22nd, he is given an ultimatum of three days, after which criminal measures will be taken.
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SOURCE
Institution:
Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin
Collection:
Weichert Family Collection, AR 25558
Original:
Box 1, folder 1
