Matzo factory

On the pretext of rotecting animal rights, the National Socialists banned the ritual slaughter of animals under Jewish dietary law on April 21, 1933, soon after they took power. However, matzo continued to be produced commercially until 1938, when all Jewish shops and Jewish businesses in the skilled trades were shut down.

The photographs provide a glimpse of an industrial bakery that produced up to 120,000 matzos a day and delivered them to regions as far away as the Soviet Union. At this time, around 400,000 Jews were still living in Germany, despite emigration and expulsions. With its modern equipment, the bakery needed a maximum of only fifty seconds for each production cycle, from mixing the dough to baking the matzos.