New York City,29th December 1938

My Dears

By now you will have received the airmail letters we sent from here, from which you will have gathered that we have now arrived safely. As mentioned in the letter I had wanted to write to you from the ship, but had not been able to on account of a rather stormy crossing. I will now finally do what I had intended and describe to you what happened to us following the crisis in Czechoslovakia. Of course I can only do this in the most general terms otherwise I would have to write a whole novel.

As you know we moved to X. on 10th October. The reason for this was that I did not want to stay in Z. any longer under any circumstances. As soon as the mobilisation was announced the rumour spread in Z. that if war broke out the Jews would all have their throats slit because they were responsible for it in the first place. This was passed on to a number of acquaintances by trustworthy people, and some acquaintances had already left Z. in the last few days. We did not do so, however, although we did listen to the radio day and night to see what would happen. Initially I took the whole thing to be nothing more than gossip and assumed that everything had turned out for the best because war did not actually break out. However I decided from that point to live only in furnished accommodation, because you are more mobile if something happens. So we put our furniture into storage with a removal company and rented two furnished rooms. I spent a lot of time in X. chasing up the authorities to make sure that our preparations for emigration were progressing. However this sort of thing is now much more difficult and protracted than it used to be because you have to sort things out with many more offices than before. We had reserved a place on a ship for the 28th December and wanted to travel together with A. However we changed this in the light of what had happened.

Before describing the events of 10th November (exactly four weeks after our move to X.) I want to mention that there was a simple but particularly moving celebration of Chanukah on board the ship. A gentleman who had already been living in Jerusalem for five years, and had apparently once been a newspaper editor, gave a speech, the motto of which I would like to adopt as the title for my descriptions, in particular because you, my dear ... and you too, my dear ... have written to say that we should forget what happened. Certainly one has to look to the future, but I would like to leave it up to your discretion to decide, once you have read what follows, whether it is perhaps right not to forget the things that have occurred, but instead make sure that our children know about them one day too.

The motto of the gentleman’s speech was as follows: Children of Israel, do not forget what Amalek did to you.

Previously we had only known from school what it was like to experience a pogrom in which the Tempel 1Note 1: synagogues are destroyed, now we know for ourselves. On the morning of 10th November I drove into town to visit the removal company in order to sort out various things relating to the containers. I passed a Jewish jewellers and its blinds were down and there was broken glass on the street. I thought to myself that there must have been a burglary because we had not heard anything at home

about what had happened. En route to the removal company I then saw that the windows of the Jewish shops had been smashed in and that some of the merchandise had been thrown out onto the street. In short, I encountered gangs of around 15 to 20 men armed with axes and pickaxes who were in the process of smashing everything to pieces. When I arrived at the removal company the glass rained down from the windows of the Klauß (orthodox synagogue) right next door to the office. Inside much had already been destroyed and lots of curious people were looking through the door, which had been smashed with an axe.

So these were the first things I experienced that morning on my journey into town. Initially everyone thought that the synagogues and shops would be destroyed and that that would then be the end of the matter. However, as a result I wanted to pay the removal company and buy our tickets for the ship as soon as possible so that we could leave suddenly if necessary. I telephoned ... in Amsterdam because we had heard that it was not easy to get permission to gain entry there. For this reason I changed the booking to the Holland Line, because that would mean going to Rotterdam to board the ship. If we used the American Line it was possible that the Dutch would tell us that we had to board in Hamburg.

Jewish bank accounts were being kept under particularly strict surveillance by this point. Gaining access to our money in Z. was only possible after a number of telephone calls and after I had also got the removal company to make a call. Despite this, the payment for the container had to be approved by the Gestapo and the Kreisleitung. At the banks you also could not have unlimited access to your money and often had to collect a series of small amounts. A decree was also issued by the Bankenvereinigung in Berlin to the effect that to prevent a sharp fall in prices Jews could not sell their stocks and bonds. One could only sell stocks and bonds up to a maximum of RM. 1,000.- if the account was not in credit. For this reason I spent the credit in my account so that I could sell RM. 1,000.- worth of securities. One had to make an effort to wade through all these things because it was often the case that by midday instructions that had been in place in the morning had suddenly changed.

From the removal company I went home and reported what had happened in the city. I then went to get food for the people in our house because we could no longer eat at the Jewish restaurant following its wrecking. En route I visited a good friend as he had telephoned Mutter 2Note 2: Mother to say that I should not go into the city. Whilst I was there a man joined us and reported that the gangs were now going around private homes smashing everything to pieces and that the men were going to be arrested. Immediately I then returned home to Mutter and prepared her and the other people in the house for a possible visit from these people. As I stood guard behind the curtains one of these gangs did indeed come down our street, however passed us by and turned round the corner. We then saw books, cushions, clothes, household goods etc. flying out of the windows onto the street three houses down from our home. It was essential to act in these minutes. Mutter kept saying I should not stay at home. I therefore spent some time driving here and there around X. and saw that the destruction was fully underway in the homes. I parked the car next to others on the roadside because I did not feel safe in the car any longer.

Now walking around on foot with my briefcase containing the passports and the visas for the USA, I had to show utmost self-control and not run away if I came across one of these gangs. There

was nothing for it however but to keep up with the onlookers and then disappear into thin air. Although I stayed close to home I did not feel comfortable knowing that Mama was alone there with the old people. I telephoned Mama and we met in town as it had all pretty much come to an end there and the gangs were all now in the residential areas. Mama came over immediately with a sausage and a piece of bread for everyone for lunch. We drove past the furniture store and saw that nothing had happened there. (I later heard that that they had wanted to destroy everything there too, but the Aryan removal man had been able to prevent them from doing so.) We then decided to travel to Z. because we could not tell whether what had happened in X. was merely the result of local decision making. In any case Mutter had a doctor's appointment in Z. that day because he wanted to change the bandage on her injured hand. We telephoned Z. and discovered that B. had been arrested. We did not know, however, that they were intending to arrest all the men, because his deputy was on the phone. We ate the food that Mama had brought along in the car en route. In Z. I rang acquaintances and was told that the men had been taken away there as well, and that the same thing had happened to the homes. We decided to travel to Y. next and then possibly from there visit the doctor in X. In Y. we were told by ... that all of the Jews had to be out of the city by evening. ... had not been taken and while we were there a Schupo turned up to demand a signature confirming that he would leave the city by the evening. We then drove to Onkel 3Note 3: uncle C. who was packing, and in the evening went over to ...

(In the meantime he has made it to Detroit with Tante 4Note 4: aunt.) We took C. and D. with us to X. to join their acquaintances. In the evening when we arrived in X. we telephoned our landlord and were told that nothing had happened in the flat there. So the day was finally over and we returned home. One heard that everything had died down in the afternoon, yet one was not confident that someone would not still turn up and collect those who had been forgotten. Occasionally one could not sleep, one could not eat on account of the agitation, or one slept soundly and could also eat due to the agitation.

Now one really could see misery everywhere. People kept arriving in X. from ... and other towns because the Jews had been expelled from the ... Gau. The old people's home in ... was burned out so the old people moved to the Jewish old people's home and to the hospital in ... . Mattresses, bed linen etc. were quickly collected and the home, which had not been affected, was nothing less than a refugee camp, and so overcrowded that the mattresses had to be laid out on the floor for the refugees. Anyone who had acquaintances elsewhere tried to reach them in order to have somewhere to sleep and food to eat. People kept turning up at our place too until they could finally get to their acquaintances. The people arrived with a small suitcase or a bundle - just as in the pictures one has seen of refugees in wartime. It will doubtless interest you to know about what happened in ... and we got to hear quite a bit because people were arriving all the time. It was bad because many people did not know where their relatives or acquaintances had ended up. Everything happened in such a rush that initially everyone had to see to their own affairs and then one would meet someone by chance who would be able to say where the others were. We heard the following about ... from acquaintances who came from ... .

In the morning the synagogue was already in flames petrol had been poured during the night for this purpose. Once it had burned out the synagogue was blown up and is now nothing more than a pile of stones surrounded by a wooden fence. Nothing happened to the cemetery,

and we visited Papa's grave and that of our grandparents on the Sunday before we left. Papa died six years ago on 6th December and this time I could not go to a synagogue to say Kaddish because they had all been destroyed. On 7th December we set off at 2 o'clock in the morning for Amsterdam in ... because I had a meeting at midday with ... and did not want to stay in Germany any longer thereafter. In ... everyone was expelled and had to leave ... at midday. But before they were allowed to go to the train there was an inspection at the platform barrier of the men by the SS and of the women by the Frauenschaft. The Jews had their jewellery and money confiscated, apart from some small change, so that they were virtually penniless when they arrived. The people were happy to have got away with their lives, the pictures were terrible. The men were arrested and the women arrived in this state with their children. And initially no one knew where the men had been taken and what they would do to them. In ... some of the men were put in prison and others taken to the Jewish café. Initially they lay on straw in the café and apparently they were not treated very nicely there either. From there the men were sent to ... and then transported to Dachau. Three men, including... , had their visas for the USA and were therefore released in ... .

Initially no one dared go back to .... However one day the refugees in ... were suddenly expelled again by the Gestapo and were supposed to return to where they had been living previously. People therefore really did not know what they should do because every town had its own arrangements - there were no longer any real laws to speak of. In ... it was particularly good because the Kreisleiter there was something of a hero when it came to these things. Almost all of the homes were more or less wrecked and more than a little had been stolen. First the women were allowed back into the wreckedhomes and had no idea where to begin clearing up. The homes had been sealed by the police and one first had to go there to get the key to gain access. Mama was with ... who often used to visit us and who lived with ... at her mother in law's in... She also had to go to the Gestapo in ... in order to get into the flat. They had forgotten to wreck this flat, which was also a stroke of luck for us because we had left our clock etc. there as I had not yet taken them to ... because when Mama was in hospital, initially I stayed with ... in ... . In ... I ended up running a law office pure and simple as soon as the women discovered that I had not been taken away. Alongside my own affairs I had endless petitions to write to the Gestapo on behalf of acquaintances concerning the release of the men who had been arrested. From time to time the men were released once they had received an appointment at the consulate. This is where I also heard that ... had been released, I do not know if it is true but it may be the case because he had pushed ahead with his plan to emigrate to the USA. During the wrecking old Herr X., who suffered from a heart condition, had a heart attack. No one knows who buried him because there were no men left in ... . A certain Herr Z. in ... also died of a heart attack. It is said that Y. died in a concentration camp. P. was apparently auf der Flucht erschossen 5Note 5: shot whilst escaping.

It was impossible to get a clear picture of everything that had happened, and of course in all the excitement all kinds of rumours did the rounds which later turned out to be false. I myself

could not return to ... until the Sunday before our departure. Acquaintances and someone from the Kreisleitung with whom I had a telephone conversation advised me not to go to ... . In our house the whole of the first floor has been let to an army officer. On the second floor the large pane of glass in the corridor was smashed and the fine gentlemen moved on when they saw that our flat was empty. Apparently they had also wrecked the furniture on the third floor. Frau ... had gone to her relatives. The flat is let to a Feldwebel 6Note 6: sergeant and Frau ... intended to give up the flat once we had moved to ... .

On the Sunday after going to the cemetery we went to visit ... who was there that day. ... is also in Dachau and ... is with ... staying with her [their] parents. Her father was also picked up but released again, and the brother picked up. It is barely possible to describe how ...'s flat looked. The heavy furniture had been hacked up into firewood, the pictures slashed, all the crockery and mirrors smashed into a thousand pieces. This chaos was strewn around all the rooms. Only old and dirty linen remained, and the same with the suits. Silver and new things were all missing. It is impossible to imagine how it looked, and even with my descriptions you cannot imagine how the wrecked homes looked. There is no point trying to describe it in any more detail because one would not know where to end. We ate at ...'s and there also much was wrecked.

... went with his family to ... to stay with his brother-in-law and also lodged with us. By now he will be on his way here and initially intended to go to Luxembourg until the steamer was due to depart, where ... has emigrated to. Onkel ... also stayed with us and his place had also been completely wrecked. He also wants to come here but is a long way down the registration list at the consulate. Elsbeth and her acquaintances have stood surety for him.

We were in ... for one night because I did not have any time during the day, and was out and about sorting out our emigration every day. They had not wrecked any of the homes there and Kurt was not picked up. Tante Frieda is due to go to Sweden soon to stay with ... . ... has stood surety for ... . ... and ... have not had any luck getting surety yet, but we hope to sort this out as well because they have a low number at the consulate. We hope to be able to get them out soon.

On the street in ... I met ... from Amsterdam and he came round to me at midday. I explained to him that we have a visa for the USA and want to go to Holland. He immediately wrote me an invitation from home, and following my telephone conversation also had one from ... . He had left Mannheim to stay with relatives and was imprisoned there until he received a summons from the consulate. However he was not badly off there and was happy not to have ended up in a concentration camp.

Now I want to stop describing all these wonderful things because I could go on for page after page and there is no point. From these lines you can get an impression of what these fine people we have been living with are like. I am sure there are also perfectly decent people there, yet it is a fact that something of this kind has happened in Germany

in the 20th century.

You will now doubtless understand why I began by quoting the motto of the speaker at the Chanukah celebration, and just want to mention once again that these occurrences should remain in the memory not only of this generation but also the next, and that no Jew should ever forget something of this kind.

Children of Israel, do not forget what Amalek did to you.

However now I just want to mention briefly all the things that at the time had to be sorted out for emigration. I am not doing this just so that I can tell you all the things I had to do, but rather so that you will understand if and when you ask yourselves whether this or that could not have been sorted out first.

As you know we were summoned to the consulate on 9th August thanks to the surety stood for us by ... . Because a formality had to be sorted out with the surety we only received our visas on 12th September. It goes without saying that at the time I immediately delivered the letter to the Brazilian consulate in Frankfurt. At the time the secretary in the consulate told me it could take three months and Mama should be grateful if she got a visa at all as there was only one letter of recommendation. As I have already told you, Mama did get her visa so it is not necessary to write about that all over again.

I also applied to emigrate to Uruguay. To this end I handed over RM. 1,000.- for both of us. The visa was to be issued in Hamburg and the consul in Frankfurt told me I should pack everything and then travel to Hamburg. There I would receive the visa once the formalities had been taken care of. Yet during this period there was the business with Argentina where people prepared everything and were then banned from going, so they did not get their visa in Hamburg, they had given up their homes and had no visas.

For this reason the whole thing with Uruguay seemed to me to be too risky because I could not get the visa in Frankfurt before everything was packed. This is all sorted now and I have taken the paperwork with me in case it comes in useful at some point.

So at this critical point Mama had her visa for the USA and so did I. We had to go to Frankfurt a number of times until Mama got the Brazilian visa. E.g. we were in Frankfurt one day when they were still arresting people there, although the Aktion 7Note 7: operation, as they called the whole thing, was supposed to have died down. The Uruguayan consul advised me to go to Hamburg immediately and leave on the next ship because they were still going to round up more people in Frankfurt. Not surprisingly it was a major struggle to keep one's head during this period. There were long queues of Jews at the consulates and the offices of the shipping lines and the faces of these beleaguered people were a terrible sight to behold.

You now know all about the visa question. Then the containers had to be sorted out, because we were fortunate in that our furniture had not been smashed to pieces. Because we had moved to ... on 10th October the relevant Devisenstelle for us was in ..., and they were much more conciliatory there than at the office in ... . Once we had been registered in ... for four weeks I intended to submit the application for permission to pack to the office in ... . The cutlery and the linen had already been packed into containers

ready for the move to ... . So immediately after 10th November I submitted the list of what we were taking in ..., because you had to have lived in ... for some time before it could be dealt with. We had bought some electrical equipment from a Jewish family, but in the meantime these people had been arrested on 10th November. So once we had collected the things we had bought from the wives of the business owners we had to submit a supplementary list. I wanted to buy some photo equipment for myself but the Devisenstelle would not allow me to take it. We only had to make a small duty payment to the Golddiskontbank 8Note 8: gold discount bank for the new things, and in this respect got off very lightly.

As you know, I had a Unbedenklichkeitsschein 9Note 9: clearance certificate for both of us from the finance authorities in ... and the city of .... We now heard that no more of these Unbedenklichkeitsscheine were being distributed, and that before one could be drawn up people would have to make the 20% Kontribution [on Jews for the cost of Novemberaktion damage].

Yet as I have already explained to you, no one was allowed to sell securities, so how was I supposed to pay this 20% and on top of that the Reichsfluchtsteuer 10Note 10: Reich flight tax for Mama, which I had not yet paid. The time limit offered protection, and I had the Unbedenklichkeitsscheine extended again and again. But during that period one only went to the authorities with some trepidation, because one did not know if one would be arrested after all if someone caught sight of one there. In the ... they recently also instigated an accounts check.

And then there was usually the Zollfahndung 11Note 11: customs investigation, which checked every last detail with a fine toothcomb.

So I made photocopies of all the Unbedenklichkeitsscheine that I had, then had them witnessed by a notary and used these documents instead. I frequently had to go to the Devisenstelle in ... and then received permission for Mama to pack, though in my case there were still some questions to be answered. Following various visits to the Devisenstelle the official told me they did not recognise me. On the basis of the Unbedenklichkeitsschein I was able to ensure that I could pack as well. However when he then informed me that the outstanding question had not been answered I thought again that I might be arrested.

Two days after receiving the Packgenehmigung 12Note 12: packing permit we filled both of the containers and the suitcases and had everything sent to Rotterdam. Through a notary I had already made sure that ... had been sent power of attorney over everything and arranged that I would write to him from Holland. He would then sort out the Reichsfluchtsteuer and the 20% Kontribution with the tax authorities. I am now waiting for a reply to find out whether he has done so. I wrote to him from Holland once the containers had arrived in Rotterdam so that they did not get held up for any reason.

We could not transfer anything under these circumstances and I was told that for the time being no Sperrmark 13Note 13: blocked Marks were being sold. However in Holland I heard that it is possible after all, and will see what remains after the taxes have been paid and how it can be transferred.

We spent a week in Holland and boarded ship in Rotterdam on the 13th of this month.