ABSTRACT
Bernhard Loesener was the Jewish expert in the Third Reich's Ministry of the Interior. Loesener's position gave him a critical role in shaping Nazi policy toward the Jews. He was charged with overseeing, coordinating, and often drafting the discriminatory legislation the Nazi regime directed against the Jews. Loesener began his formal career in the bureaucratic service soon thereafter by taking a position in the Berlin Revenue Office of the Prussian Customs Union. From there, Loesener was eventually moved to several posts in Silesia, where, in 1931, by his account, he joined a local branch of the National Socialist German Workers' Party. The enigma surrounding Bernhard Loesener does not disappear, even in the face of testimony as exculpatory as that of Pastor Gruber. Questions remain. The various possible answers to these questions reflect the dilemma of those who try to understand not only Bernhard Loesener but also the Nazi world in which he functioned.
