Mackensenstrasse was Stephanienstrasse before 1937, and renamed to Pfeifferhannsstraße in 1945 (Source: StadtWiki Dresden)
- 1943, August 25, Wednesday afternoon – Yesterday I heard new, favorable news about Schlüter. The top boss in Berlin has decided that the liquidation of the factory is to be provisionally deferred for two months and the workforce reduced. …. Admittedly most of us will be transferred to Mackensenstrasse, which is less well liked, but it is very possible, that I shall stay at Wormser Strasse, which is more conveniently located for me and less supervised. (At Mackensenstrasse the feared foreman and half boss, Hanschmann, holds sway.)
- 1943, September 16, Thursday morning – In the last two weeks, the labor exchange has on three occasions simply fetched large groups of workers from the Schlüter factory. Women under fifty, men under sixty. They are put in factories essential to the war effort. [… ] For the rest of the Schlüter workforce, in particular also the Jews, a general roll call has been set for 2:00 p.m. today at Mackensenstrasse to “redistribute the work.” (There have been rumors about it for a long time. I look forward to it with hope rather than fear.) **p259
1932, September 17, Friday morning – At the “roll call” at Mackensenstrasse yesterday it was all tom apart, and one was as quickly alienated from it as under similar circumstances in barracks or at school. Schlüter, the boss, sat behind a little table in the work room at Mackensenstrasse, the workbooks in front of him, the Jews to his left, the Aryans to his right and “divided up.” The most crippled among the Jews were assigned to “yard duty” (clearing up, sweeping), the weaker ones to mixing, the strong ones to the dreaded cloud- and dust- wreathed work of cutting. To which I was also assigned. **p259 - 1943, September 21, Tuesday afternoon – The alarm clock borrowed from Strelzyn goes off at half past three—it wasn’t necessary today, because immediately afterward there was a half- hour air-raid warning; again nothing happened, presumably it was for airplanes returning from Berlin. At quarter past five to Mackensenstrasse in the dark, which was just passing over to first light, a waning moon high in the sky. Today there were black knots of people at the stops: The trams were still held up after the warning. **p260
- 1943, October 7, Thursday morning – It is strange how even the smallest group develops its specific group peculiarities and language and retains them even when new members are added and old ones leave. Stem recently told me that at Zeiss-Ikon he had not much cared for the coarse tone of SA Muller, his frequent shouts of “Jew!” Now in Mackensenstrasse our shift has its particular tone, which is quite distinct from that of the other groups. **p267
- 1943, October 18, Monday toward evening – In the morning, I first went to Mackensenstrasse to register for the night shift and to make sure of my rations. Two portions of Russian food will be reserved for me every day: I shall eat one meal there and take one home in a pot; thus I am catered for, the rest is coffee. **p270
- 1943, November 21, Sunday midday – Schlüter’s gloomy factory floor at Mackensenstrasse was small, bare, and untidy compared to the machine room of the new company. Crowded together on “my” floor are dozens of machines of differing size and construction, but all related and all operated in a similar way: a tight bundle of paper is placed in the machine, a page at a time is drawn off, gummed, pushed down and folded by a metal plate, folded again by side plates and spat out as a finished envelope or finished bag. **p273
Credit: AltesDresden.de
Source:
- ** I Will Bear Witness, Volume 2: A Diary of the Nazi Years: 1942-1945, Victor Klemperer, Publisher : Modern Library; Illustrated edition
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