The Night Of Broken Glass
At 9:30 A.M. the bell at the main gate rang persistently. I opened the door: about 50 men stormed into the house, many of them with their coat- or jacket-collars turned up. At first they rushed into the dining room, which fortunately was empty, and there they began their work of destruction, which was carried out with the utmost precision. The frightened and fearful cries of the children resounded through the building. In a stentorian voice I shouted: "Children, go out into the street immediately!" This advice was certainly contrary to the orders of the Gestapo. I thought, however, that in the street, in a public place, we might be in less danger than inside the house. The children immediately ran down a small staircase at the back, most of them without hat or coat – despite the cold and wet weather. We tried to reach the next street crossing, which was close to Dinslaken’s Town Hall, where I intended to ask for police protection. About ten policemen were stationed here, reason enough for a sensation-seeking mob to await the next development. This was not very long in coming; the senior police officer, Freihahn, shouted at us: "Jews do not get protection from us! Vacate the area together with your children as quickly as possible!" Freihahn then chased us back to a side street in the direction of the backyard of the orphanage. As I was unable to hand over the key of the back gate, the policeman drew his bayonet and forced open the door. I then said to Freihahn: "The best thing is to kill me and the children, then our ordeal will be over quickly!" The officer responded to my "suggestion" merely with cynical laughter. Freihahn then drove all of us to the wet lawn of the orphanage garden. He gave us strict orders not to leave the place under any circumstances.
Facing the back of the building, we were able to watch how everything in the house was being systematically destroyed under the supervision of the men of law and order – the police. At short intervals we could hear the crunching of glass or the hammering against wood as windows and doors were broken. Books, chairs, beds, tables, linen, chests, parts of a piano, a radiogram, and maps were thrown through apertures in the wall, which a short while ago had been windows or doors.
In the meantime the mob standing around the building had grown to several hundred. Among these people I recognized some familiar faces, suppliers of the orphanage or tradespeople, who only a day or a week earlier had been happy to deal with us as customers. This time they were passive, watching the destruction without much emotion.
Y.S. Herz, "Kristallnacht at the Dinslaken Orphanage," Yad Vashem Studies, XI, 1976, pp. 345-349
On November 9th and 10th, 1938, Nazi youths and SA toughs ran riot through Jewish areas all over Germany. In all 1,350 Jewish synagogues were destroyed or burnt, more than 90 Jews were murdered, more than 30,000 more were sent to concentration camps and more than 7,000 Jewish businesses were looted and destroyed. Untold numbers of Jewish homes were also looted. Later, Jews were presented the bill for the destruction.
Things got much worse.
Never forget. Never again.
By old_dawg, Friday, 9 November , 2007 @ 2:50 pm
It would be interesting to place this account alongside the accounts of Muslim atrocities against Christians in Constantinople, France, and Spain, or more recently, Lebanon or Iran.
They are coming for us as surely as the Nazis came for the Jews. We will not (or at least, I will not) stand by silently this time.