April Aktion
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The April Aktion was the first wave of arrests carried out in 1938 as part of the Nazi campaign known as Aktion Arbeitsscheu Reich. It targeted men categorized by the authorities as "work-shy" (arbeitsscheu) and "asocial". The operation marked a shift from earlier local and municipal measures against such groups to a centrally organized campaign at the Reich level.[1]
Background
Measures against so-called "work-shy" and "asocial" individuals had already existed long before 1938. "Work-shy" persons were sent to workhouses, while action against "asocials" was also taken in the context of anti-beggar raids.[1]
Until 1938, measures against "work-shy" and "asocial" persons remained in the hands of municipal authorities, which were also responsible for the camps and institutions used for their confinement. With Aktion Arbeitsscheu Reich in 1938, responsibility was transferred to the Reich level, a development welcomed by municipal authorities because they had previously been required to bear the costs of confinement.[1]
The campaign Aktion Arbeitsscheu Reich consisted of two waves of arrests, referred to as the April Aktion and the Juni Aktion.[1]
Planning
In July 1937, the Office of the Four Year Plan announced that the planned arrest of "asocial" and "work-shy" persons would take place in the foreseeable future. In fact, however, half a year passed before the operation was carried out. The reasons for this delay are not entirely clear.[2]
Responsibility for the arrests was assigned to the Gestapo. Although the basic decree on "preventive crime control" issued in December 1937 should in principle have made the use of the Gestapo unnecessary, the criminal police still lacked sufficient legal foundations for the persecution of persons accused only of "deviant work behavior". The Gestapo therefore took over the operation, also because it was organizationally superior to the criminal police.[2]
Organization
The operation involved the 53 Gestapo offices and the 345 labor offices. Its economic background was not publicly communicated; instead, the planned arrests were described as an educational measure, justified by the need to register and gain access to the "work-shy" in the context of preventive crime control.[3]
The labor offices were instructed by decree of the president of the Reich Institution for Employment Placement and Unemployment Insurance to systematically register male "work-shy" persons in the period from 18 February to 4 March 1939. The collected information was to include occupational training, employment history, receipt of social benefits, membership in the Nazi Party, previous convictions, political views, and refusal to accept work. Information was also to be provided on what kind of labor the persons concerned were capable of performing and whether contagious diseases might raise objections to confinement in a concentration camp.[4]
At the same time, the Gestapo offices were ordered to conduct their own investigations in order to identify "work-shy" individuals. For this purpose, they cooperated with other authorities such as welfare offices and local police.[5]
Arrests
The period from 4 March to 9 March 1939 was designated for the arrest of the targeted persons by the Gestapo. After interrogation, the personal files of those arrested were sent to the protective custody department of the Secret State Police Office, where decisions were made about transfer to concentration camps.[6]
The April Aktion was restricted exclusively to able-bodied men. Alcoholics and vagrants, who were apparently regarded as unfit for productive labor, were not considered important targets. By contrast, so-called "shirkers" (Drückeberger) were regarded as potentially profitable for labor deployment.[7]
Guiding principle
The guiding principle of the April Aktion was: "Arbeitsscheue sind Asoziale" ("The work-shy are asocial").[8]