B. 327 – English Translation

The general Judengesetze 1Note 1: laws relating to the Jews in the Third Reich are known. Before I go in detail into the events of 10th November 1938, I would like briefly to list the reasons which led to the ruin of our business. Customers started the boycott immediately after the seizure of power, it intensified continuously, not so much voluntarily as through coercive means on the part of the state and the Party. (Withdrawal of the Winterhilfe 1Note 1: Winter Relief for the German People, welfare support, support for families with lots of children, exclusion of children from individual schools, threats of non-promotion of near relatives, exclusion [from] Party organisations etc.).

However, since this did not lead to the destruction of Jewish businesses fast enough for the Party, a boycott by suppliers was later instigated. First the Reichsnahrstand 3Note 3: Reich Food Corporation blocked the delivery of flour and semolina, then consignments of foreign goods were also blocked (oil, citrus fruit, later partly cocoa, chocolate, rice). At the end of 1937 the National Salt Mines in Munich informed us that they would no longer supply salt; in the middle of 1938 the South German Sugar Works, with whom we had done a lot of business for decades, made the same announcement. At the same time, the manufacturers of branded goods partly started to block deliveries, first Oetker/Bielefeld.

Early on a number of customers cited the Party in cases of non-payment. Since all our demands were justified, we mostly took no notice of that, although we sometimes received directly threatening letters from the Party telling us not to take any action against debtors.

Initially, contact with the authorities was still polite. At the end of December 1937, the district office in Weißenburg refused to issue travel permits, which was actually nine months before the corresponding Reich law was passed. This made any travel impossible, which would inevitably lead to the demise of most wholesale businesses. In 1938, the Finanzamt 4Note 4: tax office belatedly collected the sum of RM. 35,000.- for turnover tax, since allegedly the conditions for a reduction based on wholesale did not apply, even though there was a written permit from the Finanzamt.

During a meeting at the Finanzamt to apply for a refund the clerk said that if an appeal was lodged the regional tax office would carry out a further audit of turnover tax for the period up to 1935. This was indeed scheduled for November 1938 and was only not carried out because of the events in November.

In ... the situation was such that for years it had been almost impossible to let children out on the streets on their own. Adults were also not safe from being accosted by school children; until the start of 1938 complaints to the constabulary resulted in some peace, later even complaints were pointless. Window smashing was in part prevented by the glass insurance companies. Any purchases made in Jewish shops and talking to or greeting of a Jew by a non-Jew were immediately reported to the mayor who called the culprits in. They were excluded from city deliveries, support etc. In May 1938, hairdressers agreed en bloc not to serve Jews any more. Individual craftsmen had already done this earlier.

At the beginning of autumn 1938 during the Czech war crisis animosities visibly increased. Being jostled by people large and small, stone throwing, window smashing, removal of shutters during the day were not uncommon. The unrest and nervousness increased even further when it was learnt from various Jewish Gemeinden 5Note 5: communities (Leutershausen, Ellingen etc.) that Jews had been forced to leave their houses on the high holidays, leaving their goods and chattels wherever they were, and sell the synagogues at ludicrously low prices (in some cases for a few marks).

I want to add that my 17-year-old daughter witnessed a mob attack during the Juniaktion 6Note 6: June operation in Berlin. The Jewish girls boarding school was attacked; a telephone call to the Berlin Überfallkommando 6Note 6: flying squad prompted the question as to whether non-Aryans were involved, in which case it would not be a matter for the Überfallkommando.

On 10th November 1938 between 4 and 5 o'clock in the morning I heard steps in the garden. When I looked out of the window eight to ten men (SA) were standing, heavily armed with axes, hatchets, daggers and revolvers. By the time I woke my wife and my 11-year-old son a man was already in the bedroom who ordered us to go to the basement and immediately started to smash everything to pieces: the washing jug and bowl, mirrors, windows, furniture, doors etc. After we (which included my sister-in-law and daughter) had been in the basement for a short time I was called up. When my daughter wanted to come with me she was pushed back. Somebody yelled at me: Du Lump 1Note 1: you wretch, you know that since 12 o'clock midnight you have been declared fair game for us, give us your documents. By the time I had unlocked the desk I had received such a blow to the face that my glasses fell off and broke, my right eye swelled up heavily and my pupil was paralysed. The doctor explained later that I could have lost my sight from this blow. Then I was shoved into a corner and indiscriminately pelted with items of furniture. That I only sustained three flesh wounds and no serious injury has to be described as extremely lucky. In the meantime, the entire house was wrecked in the way described above. In the kitchen every last piece of crockery was smashed; in the basement my wife was hit on the head with a full tin of food; the women had to smash wine bottles and preserving jars themselves.

The mob came after the SA, then the school children; each party destroyed and stole yet more. It can be stated without any doubt that the SA took away the contents of the writing desk: a gentleman’s gold wristwatch, a new gentleman’s wristwatch, RM. 120.- in cash, a wedding ring, a necklace. A lady's gold wristwatch and a girl’s ring were also stolen on the same Thursday. It should be added that a part of the large tiled stoves and the grand piano were also destroyed.

By the time my wife got round to packing a few days later, all the wardrobes and drawers were almost completely empty, so that almost all the clothes and most of the underwear had been stolen. All Jewish homes in were treated in this or a similar way. In the meantime, the synagogue with all the Thorarollen 8Note 8: Torah scrolls, all the prayer books, tefillin [phylacteries], tallits 8Note 8: prayer shawls, the over-100-year-old Memorbuch 8Note 8: memory book etc. were also set on fire and burnt. The unusable Thorarollen, which had been stored in the outbuilding, were not burnt. The city did not pay anything for the large plot where the synagogue, the bath house, the teacher's home had stood, nor for the outbuilding and the garden, since the cost for clearing up equalled its value. The Jewish cemetery was also repeatedly desecrated before and after the 10th November.

On the 10th November, after the various destruction operations, we were allowed to pack some underwear and clothes and had to go to the railway station through rows of the rabble and accompanied by their jeers. Other members of the Gemeinde were already there, others already left on earlier trains. Some who remained were badly mistreated the same evening; partly by the SA, in the Rathaus 11Note 11: town hall the over 70-year-old doctor ... in particular, who was so upset by it that he took his own life. The remaining Jews had to leave town the following day, which brought the century-old Jewish Gemeinde to an end.

We went to Munich, where I met my brother who had travelled a few hours earlier. After a short stay my brother and I were arrested. After various personal details had been taken down we were taken to Dachau. There, various personal details were recorded again, we were photographed and had to wait for hours until we got to the bath house. There we were brought before the doctor after the bath and had to announce: Schutzhaftjude 1Note 1: protective custody Jew X. respectfully reporting. Because we had not announced ourselves loud enough, with most of the other prisoners I was slapped round the face in front of the Stabsarzt 12Note 12: medical officer. Examinations were not carried out; we were simply asked: Ill or had an accident?

However, the sick, the old, cripples, diabetics and the mentally subnormal all remained in custody; in our barrack e.g. an elderly gentleman who had polio, could hardly walk and speak and was incontinent.

After the examination we came out into the open from the warm bath house dressed only in short shirts, socks, trousers and cotton drill jacket. We all had to stand until midnight whether we had been imprisoned early that morning, like individual gentlemen from Munich, or later. SS men watched us and if anybody was seen not standing to attention properly there were slaps around the face and shoves. After 12 o'clock we were led to the barracks. There we received the only food of the day, tea and Kommissbrot 13Note 13: army bread. The barracks themselves were split into four dormitories; each dormitory consisted of two rooms, intended for 50 men. However, they were occupied by 200. The washroom and toilet were accordingly insufficient. Initially four men had to make do with one towel, which was also used for drying the crockery. Later towels and underpants could be bought in the canteen.

The daily routine was roughly as follows: wake-up at 5 o'clock, wash, coffee. We were allowed to eat in the barracks, but there were blocks where almost always one had to eat and drink outside, i.e. standing. This depended on the Stubenältester 14Note 14: room elders, who, of course, were never taken to task by the SS in charge for bad treatment of the Jews. Since the rooms had to be cleaned before the Appell 14Note 14: roll call, it was necessary to leave them at half past 5. We then had to wait for some time on the camp road before we were led to the Appellplatz 14Note 14: parade ground. After the Appell, the Zimmerdienst 14Note 14: room cleaning group xx (which included me most of the time) was allowed to stand down, whereas most people had to march and do Exerzieren 14Note 14: punitive drills in all weathers until after 11 o'clock. Initially Jewish former officers were allowed to be in charge, later only Aryans. After lunch, we usually had 30-60 minutes’ free time, then it was Appell again, marching and Exerzieren again and after a short break, evening Appell. After the evening meal we were free until bed time (8 o'clock).

On the Appellplatz as in the whole camp and even in the barracks. One was [never] safe from SS checks. These almost never passed without beatings and shoving. On one occasion I was helping a sick person along when an SS man came and ordered me to let him walk by himself and gave me a push from behind for no other reason. Similarly I had a broom thrown at my head when I did not carry out an order fast enough in the barracks, but, luckily, without being hit. Everybody had to go to the Appell, whether sick or old. So it happened that the sick and weak often had to be carried by 2-4 men. People who reported to the Revier 19Note 19: sick bay or the doctor were often sent away 2-3 times before they were seen; then they were often discharged without any or insufficient examination and without decent treatment.

Special events

On one occasion all the Jewish blocks (c. 10,000 men) had to stand on the Appellplatz from lunchtime till 6 o'clock in the evening. Standing still for 30-60 minutes on the Appellplatz was not uncommon, especially during the evening Appell we were often bullied by having to stand still for longer than usual instead of being allowed to move.

An SS man asked an acquaintance (aged over 70) his name. When he gave it without the prerequisite addition Schutzhaftjude he was twice slapped round the face so hard that he fell over. Shortly afterwards the man was released and died two days [after] his release, another man 2 hours after his return to Munich.

An approximately 60-year-old man with a bladder complaint asked to be allowed to relieve himself. When this was refused and he replied something, he was hit so hard that he fell over. His comrades were forbidden to help him up. In the presence of the SS he was so badly beaten by the Stubenälteste (an Aryan prisoner) that he was dead when he was carried off the square.

One evening a Munich Sanitätsrat 20Note 20: medical consultant reported to the doctor with appendix pains. He was refused treatment and had to return to the barracks. The following morning the Sanitätsrat called for help. A few minutes later a colleague had to confirm that he was dead. It could not be ascertained whether a ruptured appendix or heart attack had been the cause.

One gentleman died of a heart attack on the Appellplatz. He was simply left there and it took 20-30 minutes before the Sanitätspersonal 21Note 21: medical orderlies came to pick him up with the words Another one's croaked.

On release day after having coffee we had to stand from 5 o'clock in the morning until the train left Dachau at 4 o'clock in the afternoon without any other food.

According to Aryan prisoners, the whole Juden-Aktion 1Note 1: Jews operation of November 1938, as the matter was called in the files, had no connection with the vom Rath affair, since preparations in Dachau had been completed considerably earlier.

Even whilst I was still in Dachau, my wife was threatened that I would not be released from the concentration camp until my siblings abroad had their mortgages on my property cancelled. In fact, although I was released earlier I had to sell my house for RM. 14,000- which had a value of at least RM. 23,000.- taking all the warehouses into account. A further RM. 2,500.- was deducted from that for damages caused by the SA on 10th November during their wild frenzy of destruction.

In the above report I have, almost without exception, mentioned only facts that I have seen with my own eyes; anything else, especially from other blocks, I have left out, even if it had been reported by an absolutely trustworthy source.

22 Note 22: © Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust & Genocide, London