Leaving Certificate
Object numberM2008/034:010
TitleLeaving Certificate
DescriptionTwo-page typed document, in German, on official letterhead, from OSRAM (a lighting fabrication company that was part of Siemens) for former employee Walter Plotke. This leaving certificate, which serves as a reference for future employment, is dated 05 December 1933 and was written after Walter Plotke's employment was terminated. The reference describes him as an excellent, reliable worker and manager who established and maintained important business relationships and smoothly and responsibly ran his sales depot. It outlines the progress in his employment status from December 1921 to 31st March 1934, the day he was fired under the title of "Changes Due to Ancestry". This is one of ten documents relating to Walter Plotke's employment and the anti-Jewish policies that led to his dismissal. These documents illustrate the implementation of discrimination tactics against Jews in the German workforce during the build-up to WWII.
Production placeBerlin, Germany
Production date 1933-12-05
Subjectemployment, discrimination in employment, retrenchments, pre-World War II, Pre-war life, antisemitism
Object namereferences
Materialpaper
Dimensions
- width: 210.00 mm
height: 295.00 mm
Language
- German O S R A M
LEAVING CERTITICATE
Berlin O 17, 5 December 1933.
Mr. Walter Plotke, born as Prussian citizen on 6. June 1898 in Lissa, (previously Province Posen, now Poland), started working in our company on 1. February 1921.
He was first employed as correspondent in one of our works, in the central price department and in our sales department home. After 2-1/2 years of activity in these departments we were able to promote Mr. Plotke to travelling salesman, in which capacity he was active for about one year in our sales depots Magdeburg and Leipzig. At the end of 1925 Mr. Plotke returned to our sales department home in our main office in Berlin, where he started as correspondent and later worked as manager of a group of salesmen. As such he had to deal with all sales matters of his district, in direct cooperation with the main business management, to maintain contact with many sales depots and to control their sales activity. He also had to maintain free of trouble the business relationship with important clients.
In May 1. 1928 we conferred upon Mr. Plotke the position of sales manager of our sales deposit Cologne that he kept until the end of his employment with us.
Mr.Plotke managed this sales depot in all sales matters with great circumspection. His working zeal and his cleverness combined with reliability and strict zeal of duty allowed him to reach within a short time the best relationships with our clients and to take care with good results the interests of our company. He has proved himself as an independent and purposeful sales manager.
Mr. Plotke leaves our service as of 31. March 1934; he has been given leave of absence from mid-July 1933. His dismissal happened due to a change because of ancestry.
OSRAM
Two signatures
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Ann Kirby