The Ninth of November, "Kristallnacht" and
Pogroms.
Also on Wednesday the 9th of November 1938 I
was drawing there. The previous day we had heard the news that an attempt on the life of
von Rath, the third secretary at the German embassy in Paris had been made by a Jewish
youth who had shot at him and who had wounded him critically. Now in the afternoon came
the news that he had died. A short time later it was announced that all Jewish activities,
organizations and newspapers were now forbidden. On Thursday morning children from Jewish
schools were sent home as due to the latest events their safety there could not be
guaranteed anymore. There were all kinds of rumors about attacks on Jews and Jewish
institutions. I put on my working-clothes for cabinet-making and I took my bicycle and
drove to town to see by myself what was going on, as I could not believe all these rumors.
But soon I realized what was going on.
On the New Zeil three young Jewish men of
about my age were taken out from a house by a gang of young men, were terribly beaten up,
then they were allowed to run away, were chased by the same gang, again beaten up and
again they managed to run away. One of them had a large bleeding wound at the forehead and
could hardly walk. The two others were supporting him and they were running as fast as
they could till they managed to escape into a small side street. Now I drove to the
Friedberger Anlage Synagogue. A fire-engine was standing in front and inside they tried to
extinguish the fire. But soon afterwards the fire-brigade got orders not to intervene
anymore where synagogues were burning but to let them burn out. Also the police got orders
not to intervene. Later another fire started in this synagogue and this time its whole
interior was destroyed and the roof fell down. I went to stand in the crowd to listen to
conversations. The shooting of von Rath was a good opportunity for the Nazi anti-Semitic
propaganda and an excellent pretext for the pogroms, "to express the will of the
people", as they wrote in the press.
In the inner town it was difficult to get
through with the bicycle. Everywhere groups of people were moving around. Doors of Jewish
shops were opened by force or broken. Shutters were then opened from the inside where they
had not succeeded to break them from the outside. With iron rods or with large hammers the
shop windows were broken completely. Whatever was in the shop windows or in the shops was
destroyed or taken. Of course, a lot was stolen or pillaged, I saw it with my own eyes. As
I heard later, most of these "heroes" were SA or SS dressed in civil clothing,
the same people who later in the evening in uniform "guarded" the Jewish shops.
Besides them also unorganized mob and sometimes Aryan shopkeepers with strong Jewish
competition took part. Quite a few times the goods of a shop were burnt on the street.
Only now one could see how many Jewish shops there had been.
Systematically, street by street, Jewish
shops were destroyed. Some party-members came along and greeted each other happily. One
said to the other who was standing next to me: "For this day I have been waiting
already for a long time!" I went to the Hauptsynagoge on the Boernestrasse. This was
our synagogue where we went on Jewish holidays and where I and my brothers had had our
Bar-Mitzvas. A huge crowd was standing in front of the building. Huge flames came out of
the windows and the roof. Fire engines were standing nearby only to protect the adjacent
buildings but not to stop the fire. - Now I moved to the nearby Boerneplatz-Synagogue.
Inside it was already completely burnt out. Many people were standing in front of it. Two
women next to me were very excited and one said to the other: "I shall never forget
this wonderful day when the power of the Jews was broken.
Just now police and workmen were
requisitioning and taking away the furniture and property of the caretaker who had been
living in the building and who probably had already been arrested. Generally there was a
nervous atmosphere in town. A great part of the population did not take part. I heard
remarks of people who were against this. One woman said: "The poor Jews. " A man
said: "This is our culture". They were arrested immediately. On this day about
500 non-Jewish people were arrested as I heard from reliable sources. On the
Unterlindau-street was an administrative building of the Jewish community. I drove there
with my bicycle to see what was going on. The frightening spectacle there I shall never
forget: Arrested Jewish men of all ages were lined up in a long row and in front of them
was standing an SA-man and screaming at them. Their faces were frightened. Just now was a
Roll call to determine their number. Apparently this building was being used to collect
arrested Jewish men and from there they were taken away to concentration-camps.
At noon I returned home. Of course there was
a very depressed atmosphere. - At that time it was allowed for Jewish families to have as
household help an Aryan woman only above the age of 35. (According to Nazi propaganda a
younger Aryan woman at a Jewish family would almost certainly be raped. Therefore this was
strictly forbidden, also in accordance with the Nuremberg racial laws of November 1935.)
We also had such a household help, her name was Eliese. In those difficult days she was a
great help to our family, and also my father's chauffeur, Herr Scherer who showed
extraordinary courage to help members of our family.
At home were my mother and my uncle from
Bingen, uncle Carl, the father of David Barkai (Bruck) and of Lotti. During the morning he
had arrived. He had left his home in Bingen as he was afraid of there being arrested. He
told us what had happened in Langelonsheim. In the middle of the night some people forced
their way into the -house. Uncle Fritz managed to escape into the attic, but uncle
Herbert, aunt Else and Hans were overpowered. The lights were switched off and they were
terribly beaten up with metal rods with injuries all over their body. Herbert got two
large wounds at his head. Thereafter everything in the house was broken or damaged. The
son of Mr. Piess (one of their neighbors) apparently took part very actively. On the next
morning uncle Fritz and uncle Herbert were taken in "Schutzhaft" (protective
custody). There was a nervous atmosphere at home. But my father kept calm, at least at the
outside. He continued working as a doctor among Jewish people as non-Jewish doctors were
forbidden to help Jews and also refused to do so. Therefore many people came for help. I
drove by bicycle to the household school where my cousin, Lotti was staying.
The girls were not allowed to leave the
building and it seemed not advisable to phone as phone-calls were probably overheard.
Therefore I drove there to tell her about her parents. Except for some searches of the
building they had been left alone. - On the way there I saw private flats being demolished
and vandalized. Beds, bedding and parts of furniture were thrown down from windows in the
second floor and in the flat everything was broken or damaged.
Now they started to arrest Jewish men
systematically. Many people went into hiding or at least avoided to be at home. In the
afternoon came aunt Else and Hans. Aunt Else could only walk with difficulty. But when
they heard that also in Frankfurt people were arrested our chauffeur, Mr. Scherer took
them by car to Mainz. On Thursday evening my father found for me a place to stay for the
night and to sleep, at a former Christian patient who was living in a small flat in a
working-class district. On that evening Goebbels announced that the Pogroms were now
finished. But now Jewish men of the ages between 18 and 60 were arrested systematically.
On Friday morning also Aunt Lily came to us.
In the morning I was warned to disappear as
the Gestapo were making house-by-house searches for Jewish men. Therefore I traveled into
the Taunus-mountains for the whole day. It was a beautiful sunny autumn day and the leaves
were getting yellow. In this beautiful nature it was difficult to imagine that in town
such crazy and horrible things were taking place. There were only few people here in the
mountains but I had to avoid to appear to be Jewish. Therefore I kept in my hand the
official Nazi newspaper "Der Voelkische Beobachter" and when I went to eat in a
restaurant I greeted in the Nazi way with "Heil Hitler". After returning in the
evening I met somebody in town to be informed about what had been going on during the day.
There was bad news: In the afternoon my father had been arrested when he was visiting
patients. Our chauffeur, Mr Scherer, had been driving the car in which my father had been
traveling. Later Mr Scherer told me that he would never forget how he saw my father being
taken away in handcuffs like a criminal.
At about the same time the Gestapo had been
in our flat searching for Jewish men who might be hiding there. I think our next door
neighbors had denounced us as they probably had seen me entering or leaving. At the time,
when the Gestapo came, fortunately my mother, uncle Carl and aunt Lily were out for a
short walk. But our household help, Eliese was in and especially in such situations she
kept very much her presence of mind. She invited them for coffee and cake and allowed them
to search the flat but told them very strongly not to damage anything. I returned home
immediately in order at least to see my mother. There were also some of my father's former
patients and they all were terribly upset. We discussed my departure to Holland but
decided to wait a few more days as the entrance-papers for Holland should arrive now very
soon. This Friday-evening meal together with my mother I shall never forget. I left at 9
p. m. to sleep at the same address and at 11 the Gestapo came again to search for Jewish
men. Uncle Carl was sleeping at us but Eliese went down to meet them at the entrance door
and told them that the three sons of the family were already abroad, that therefore there
was no need for them to come up to search the flat. They believed her and went away. On
Saturday morning I had to leave the flat early where I had been staying for the night, as
the cleaning woman was coming and also people were afraid of razzias by the Gestapo.
To go through town was very unpleasant.
Everywhere one saw SS, secret police and political police. Only because of my non-Jewish
appearance I was not stopped to show my papers. Now I went to the small flat where Mr
Scherer, my father's driver and his wife were living. There I stayed for the next four
days without leaving the flat.
On that Saturday my cousin Lotti came to our
house to stay with my mother and to help her. There was a depressing atmosphere. People
were phoning continuously. Jewish patients were coming all the time in the hope to get
some help. It was almost impossible to get medical help as Jewish doctors had been
arrested and non-Jewish doctors mostly refused to help Jews or to treat them. In one case
a nineteen year old Jewish boy was lying at home with high fever after having been beaten
up terribly. When the Gestapo came he managed to hide in the attic. Now his mother was
sitting in our home completely desperate and broken. My mother managed at the end to find
a non-Jewish doctor who was prepared to treat him. People came to ask for some food as in
their homes everything had been broken, damaged or taken away. In Frankfurt the Gestapo
arrested also seriously ill Jewish people. There were many suicides. In some cases the
Christian population behaved very well. In Isenburg a Jewish children home was put on fire
and the Christian neighbors took the children out from the burning building endangering
their own lives. In some cases non-Jewish neighbors took Jewish people from their homes
just before their demolition to hide them in their own flats. In a small place near the
Rhine Jewish men were forced to put fire to their own synagogue.
On Tuesday evening arrived the papers for my
entry into Holland. Eliese heard from her cousin who was working in the Gestapo that from
six o'clock in the evening they would stop making arrests and that they would also
discontinue checking on roads and railways. This seemed to be the right moment to leave,
before the funeral of von Rath, when more trouble could be expected. This afternoon I was
at home for the last time. It is surprising that even in this horrible situation my mother
remained very practical. She told me that in future I shall have to look after myself and
therefore she showed me how to sew buttons to my clothing so that I would be able to do
this myself. In the evening my mother and Lotti came with me to the railway station. At
the station were lots of SS and police. During the journey I had to listen to the
conversation of some people on the gangway who told each other about their heroic deeds at
the pogroms when they had been beating and kicking Jews and had ransacked Jewish houses.
One of them started to stare at us in the compartment for about 20 minutes. Fortunately
there were sitting with us also some soldiers and nothing happened.
