TENTH OF NOVEMBER 1938

Translation of a Paper written by Dr. Max Eschelbacher, Düsseldorf’s Rabbi

We had arranged to spend the evening of the 10th of November with our friends Emanuel Neumann. … (Dr Neuman was our Rabbi in Duisburg.) … We returned home at 12 o’ clock. Just as I arrived the phone rang; a quivering, horror stricken voice shouted: “Rabbi they are demolishing our Community Centre and destroying everything, they are beating the people, we can hear them scream”. It was our neighbour Mrs Blumenthal. Although I knew that I could not help, I thought of going to the community centre. Almost at that moment the door bell rang violently. I turned out the lights and looked out of the window. The street in front of the house was black with SA men. They forced their way into our apartment and shouted in Chorus “Revenge for Paris, down with the Jews!”. They were equipped with sledgehammers. They smashed all the furniture and windows. They attacked me with their fists. One of them caught hold of me and shouted at me to get downstairs. I was convinced that I would be killed. I went into the bedroom, took off my watch, took my wallet and keys and put them on the bed and said good bye to Berta (the Rabbi’s wife). All she said was “chasak!” (be strong).

I have no idea how I managed to get downstairs. The street was full of SA men, about 50 or 60 of them. They shouted ”Now preach!” I started to speak about the death of Von Rath; I said that his murder was more unfortunate for us Jews than for the German people; we were not responsible for his death . Whilst all this was taking place the SA men forced their way into Wertheimer’s on the floor below us. They destroyed a lot of things, dragged Mr and Mrs Wertheimer out of their beds and brought them downstairs. A big SA man grabbed me and hurled me across the street against the building. Then an officer came and said “I am taking you into custody”. Now began the march to the police headquarters. A troupe of SA men marched ahead, then I came escorted by 2 SA. After that another troop of SA to separate us and after them Mr Wertheimer escorted as I was, another troop of SA and Mrs Wertheimer in pyjamas and again another troop of SA men. All the way they sang in chorus “Revenge for Paris, down with the Jews!” One man said to me “Now you can celebrate Succot”. People who passed us joined the chorus “Revenge for Paris! Down with the Jews!”. We arrived at the police headquarters at about 12.30 .This was same way, the Jews from the East had arrived there almost 2 weeks earlier. The Officer in charge was called. Herr Wertheimer and I were taken to the admission room. Everything was taken from me. I asked if I could keep my braces and said ”I will not hang myself”. One man said “that is very accommodating of you”; another “that’s a pity”; a third one said “you would rather live?” I Said ”I told you I will not hang myself” whereupon an SA man said: “you Jews have nothing worth living or dying for”. I told him “You do not even know what a Jew is”. Minutes later Mr Wertheimer and I were in our cells. It was a terrifying night. One could constantly hear cars arriving. I had the foreboding that not only Mr Wertheimer and I, but a large section of our community had been taken into custody. I had one thought only, which helped me in all this misery, which was: I am with the others and not better off than they are.

Around 10 o’clock on Wednesday November 16th a guard appeared and commanded: “take your things and come downstairs!” When I left my cell I saw our people coming out of their cells and standing around in the passage. I was already half way down when I heard some one call: ”105 stay upstairs.!” I returned to my cell and remained there with great anxiety. In the evening, when I filled my water container, I learnt that a large part of the Jewish prisoners were sent to a concentration camp, most likely to Dachau. Supposedly every one under 55 would be transferred there. That was horrible, deeply disturbing news. My uneasiness increased on Saturday Nov.19th. In the afternoon I heard that some of the older Jewish male prisoners had been released.

Until my release on November 20th I was unaware of what was going on in Düsseldorf and in our community. I only knew what was happening to me. Most of our furniture was destroyed, a large part of my library had been thrown through the window onto the street. Our paintings had been cut and torn, many windows smashed, most of the furniture was beyond repair. My books and documents and my valuable private correspondence of almost 40 years, everything had been thrown out of the window and formed a large, high pile in the street. I saw the beginning of this on the night I was picked up. On Thursday people took books and papers, but during the morning others came and set fire to what was left. It burned for many hours. There were many deaths. What happened on that night was a pogrom. Paul Marcus, the Proprietor of Cafe Karema, fled when his restaurant was completely destroyed. He was shot during the night and was found dead early in the morning at the Martin Luther Platz, in front of the apartment of Dr Max Loewenberg. Mrs Willner and her son Ernst were stabbed to death in Hilden. Carl Herz and Nathan Mayer were also stabbed or shot there. Dr Sommer, a 68 year old man who lived with his non-Jewish wife and took no interest in anything Jewish. After his house was plundered and he was badly maltreated, he, his wife and their old aryan maid went into the garden and poisoned themselves. The bodies of Marcus, Herz and Mayer as well as Mrs Willner and Ernst were confiscated. Berta used all her energy at the Gestapo to get them released for the funerals. The bodies finally arrived in closed coffins. I was in Jail. Sally Rosenbusch said the prayers. No other Jew was allowed to be present at the cemetery on this late evening, almost 8 days after the murders. Instead, several officials of the Gestapo were there. … (Sally Rosenbusch was my grandfather. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Synagogue for a long time, acting as the Board’s secretary for over 25 years.) ... There was no investigation into the murders. There were 2 other deaths on the night of the 10th of November, Stefan Goldschmidt and Lewkovitz. Both were in their seventies. I could not find out whether they were killed or died of heart attacks. … (I have been told that the Nazis also attacked my grandfather and destroyed his furniture.) …

Many more people were injured. One of those was Mrs Marcus whose husband was murdered. She was badly injured and spent a long time in public hospitals. Before she was taken to hospital she was forced to make a statement that her husband had committed suicide. Oskar Koch and Simon Eimer were in another room of the hospital. Koch had seven bullet and stab wounds. His hands had thick bandages and he was very worried because his hands were badly infected. Eimer jumped out of the window on the night of the 10th of November and had 2 broken legs and a very bad pelvic fracture. At the Marienhospital I met Mrs. Opppenheimer. Her head was bandaged, her scull was very badly damaged. Old Mrs Gabriel was in the same room. She was a woman of over 70. Although she jumped out of the window she was not as badly injured as Eimer, but she had a fever which would not go down. In another room was Salo Loeb. He had bad stab wounds.

The Marienhospital, a Catholic hospital, was filled to capacity with Jews who received their first bandages and treatment there. Some people did recover later. The Chemist who had been employed by the city of Düsseldorf, Dr. Schreiber, gave me a horrifying report of maltreatment after which he was left lying there as if he were dead. Dr Lehman had been hit on the head which caused severe concussion. Colleague Klein and his wife had been beaten till they were blue and brown. They lived on the third floor and were thrown down all the stairs. Rudolf Weil was hit on the head so hard, he too was lying there as if he were dead. He died a few weeks later. Most likely his death was caused by injury and shock. Mrs Martha Cohn, the fiancée of Alfred Oppenheimer, was spending the night of the pogrom with her parents in law in their apartment on Reichstrasse. The mob forced their way in and bashed the 65 year old Gustav Oppenheimer, they attacked his wife until she was lying by the door as if she were dead. A few days later she was taken to a Psychiatric hospital. Both were still there when we left Düsseldorf 2 months later. After that the SA people forced their way into Mrs. Cohn’s bedroom and screamed “where is the old man’s whore!” They pulled her by her nightgown and bashed her until she was bruised for many weeks. She had trouble with her lungs for the rest of her life. They tore the back of her nightgown. Whilst this was happening an SS man with a furious face arrived and pulled her down the stairs. Then he whispered to her “come with me I cannot watch this any longer”. He dragged her downstairs and at the front door he gave her a push which sent her flying and she fell onto her mother-in-law who was lying in the street. After that they took her to the police headquarters barefoot and in her torn and bloodied nightgown. At least they gave her an apron to cover herself at police headquarters. High Court Judge Ephrajim had his jaws shattered . He could not walk for weeks and had to be fed liquids as if he were a little child.

On my first walk along the street after my discharge I saw a change in street scene. A lot of shops were covered with boards. These were the Jewish businesses which had been demolished and partly looted 12 days earlier. On November the 12th the Nazis declared a new law: Jewish tenants, property owners and shop owners were responsible for the cost and repairs of broken windows and any damage caused to properties was to be made good and paid for by Jews. Thereupon the shop windows were covered with boards of wood. Prior to the funeral of Mr. Von Rath, troops of SA soldiers painted the boards black so that they now looked for always like decorations for a funeral. Inside the homes it looked shocking. All leading men from Düsseldorf were involved in this destruction. I was told that the Mayor of Düsseldorf , Dr Otto, was in charge of organising the destruction of the fashion house Steinberg on Königsallee. On Thursday afternoon the looters returned for a second time and completely wrecked some shops. Only a few were spared.

In Düsseldorf our Community Centre on Grafenberger Allee looked shocking. The windows and furniture were shattered, the doors had been broken and wallpaper torn off the walls. It is impossible for me to describe the condition of individual homes. The few examples I have given apply to the majority of the raids. My first outing took me to the Synagogue. … (This was a beautiful building with a magnificent interior of white marble and was one of Germany’s most beautiful Synagogues.) … It was surrounded by a high wooden fence, the windows had burst, the cupola was still on the roof but burnt out, the rafters pointed towards heaven. A mob appeared during the pogrom night; some of the men were supposed to have been doctors from public hospitals and some high court judges. A lot of petrol was brought from the Flora Pharmacy on Schadow Platz and from other places they brought tar. The Torah scrolls were taken from the Aron Hakodesch and set on fire in the yard whilst the murderers danced around the fire, partly dressed in garments of the Rabbi and the Chasanim. Then the framework of the roof and the seats were painted with petrol and tar and set alight. Soon the roof was ablaze. This is how our Synagogue was burnt. The funeral parlour on our old cemetery was destroyed. Nothing was touched on the new cemetery. When the mob arrived there the attendant simply said “this property belongs to the city”.

The institutions suffered the same fate as the Synagogues and private homes. The old people of Rosenau and those of the old age home of the Synagogue of Düsseldorf as well as the children in the orphanage in Dinslaken were thrown out in the middle of the dark November night and had to find accommodation wherever possible. Our primary school was also destroyed during the night.

November the Tenth gave the community its death-blow. The break-up now took on a rapid tempo. The community reasserted itself as well as could be expected considering the times and circumstances. As soon as was possible services started again. The Torah scrolls were burnt but several private people still had Torahs. Several saved from other communities were also brought to Düsseldorf. The services were held in the Lodge Home on Grafenberger Allee. We had a big attendance, right from the start far greater than in our magnificent Synagogue. The service was simple and full of dignity and in it’s way full of beauty. It was as it used to be generations ago in small communities. There was no choir and no organ. Slowly community songs developed again. Our tallits were burnt, the bima gone and the space small. There were no sermons and instead simple, informal and personal discussions took place. The German language disappeared from services. After our departure from Düsseldorf another room was made available. Both were always well visited. The community still had about 2,400 members. About 300 people attended Shabbat sevices. Never did we have so many in attendance in the good times. Although I do not think that people became more religious, on the contrary, the persecution of Jews in Germany and especially the pogrom caused some people to doubt and there were many different reactions. In spite of this the Synagogue became again what it once was, Beit Hakneseth, the house for meetings.

The Jews stayed in their homes. They could not risk being in the street. They were not seen on the Königsallee nor in the Hofgarten (Düsseldorf’s famous park) or near the Rhein or in any restaurant. The only place they could find company was in the Synagogue and for that alone the services were a blessing. Times were terrible at the cemetery. Because the Jewish newspapers as well as our community news were prohibited from being published, no one knew what was happening. When someone died we were informed by word of mouth. We could not announce funerals and consequently the funerals were very small. One funeral had 15 people in attendance. It was the largest I conducted during the 2 months before my dismissal. Mostly there was only Mr Rosenbusch and maybe 2 mourners, nobody else. I had no talit and wore a black coat and top hat and later a yamulka. In most cases I did not speak at all. It had lost its meaning since no one was there to listen. Besides it was not possible to say anything that should be said and which was meaningful at the graveside.

P.S.
The above appears to be an excerpt from a book about the Jewish community in Düsseldorf. Dr Eschelbacher immigrated to England in 1939. After the war he frequently paid visits to Germany and held services on High Holydays for the newly established communities in Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Berlin. He published many books throughout his life. The Rabbi died in London in 1964.

My grandfather followed his daughter Else and son-in-law Isidor Frank and their sons Heinz and Kurt to Amsterdam. They were all taken to Westerbork and from there to Theresienstadt. The Frank family were killed in Auschwitz. My grandfather was murdered in Sobibor in 1943 at the age of 78.

In Kasenenstrasse where the Synagogue once stood is a plaque on which is written that after Kristallnacht the Germans built an underground bunker there.

Translating this has brought back many memories. Some are of wonderful times spent with my grandfather. Some are very sad. I remember the beautiful services he took me to when I was in Düsseldorf on Shabbat.

A few days before we left for Australia I went to Düsseldorf to say good bye to him. I can still see my grandfather standing there, after I left, a lonely old man at the tram stop.

To day is the 1st of December 2009. Right now, while I am writing this, the trial of Demjanjuk the Nazi guard, responsible for the deaths of 27,900 Jews in Sobibor is underway in Germany.

Liesel Adler.