Help Emigrating


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Gollwitzer started supporting a circle of “non-Aryan” Christians in 1938. Its members took part in the life of the Confessing Church congregation in Dahlem without living there themselves.


Requests from victims of racial persecution, for instance for help looking for work or for a residence as well as for financial support, also started reaching him with increasing frequency from 1938 onward. Gollwitzer tried – usually unsuccessfully though – to find job opportunities or prevent dismissals. As the legal situation worsened, even his efforts to assist Jews looking for residences had only limited success.


When he was trying to help, he was able to resort to support from his congregation. A “non-Aryan fund” with donations also existed in Dahlem. Victims of racial persecution were cared for in Dahlem in conjunction with “Pastor Grüber’s Office”, the churchwide aid agency for “non-Aryan” Christians.


Gollwitzer tried to provide victims of racial persecution in his Dahlem congregation assistance emigrating between 1938 and 1940. Aid to emigrate legally was the priority at first. In letters to foreign authorities, he requested assistance acquiring entry permits and residence permits. In the case of the Lutz family from Dahlem, efforts in London, Berlin and Bern were eventually successful: The family was able to leave for Switzerland on December 20, 1938 and later settled in England.


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  • © Evangelisches Zentralarchiv in Berlin, Bestand 686 Nr. 2274

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