21st November 1938

The operations in Aachen and their consequences

The incidents in connection with the fires at the synagogue were described as follows:

All houses on the periphery of the synagogue were occupied by guards equipped with revolvers. No residents were allowed to leave the house on threat of death. The synagogue was completely burnt down.The rabbi Dr. Schönburger, who wanted to save the Thorarollen, was arrested and taken away but is out of prison now. The Jewish community was ordered to level the ground at the scene of the fire. If the Gemeinde failed to do this work it would be taken before the authorities.

The following personalities have been arrested:

Dr. Löwenstein is now in Buchenwald concentration camp. According to his secretary he has been arranging his departure for some time. Frau Dr. Löwenstein whom I contacted did not turn up at the agreed time; apparently they had taken away her Grenzschein.

Stern, a businessman: no precise information could be obtained. It was said he was shot; one of his employees however stated that Stern was alive but had been arrested, nobody knows where.

Hugo Kaufmann; former owner of the firm Herz & Heimann, textile factories, and also the factory owner Otto Meyer are in a concentration camp, in which is not known.

Königsberger, father and son, both arrested, son released on bail, father released, the son was later arrested again and transferred to a concentration camp.

Marx, a businessman, proprietor of the firm Marx & Auerbach also arrested.

Dr. Wallerstein departed for the USA on 5th October 1938.

The Jewish laboratory technician of a chemical factory was arrested but after his employer, a prominent National Socialist, intervened, was released since the latter had declared that without him the factory would have to close.

Dr. A.,....., a 60-year-old man, was not arrested. I spoke with Frau A. myself; she was terribly upset and cried and insulted Jews abroad who were guilty of everything and explained as follows: “Please make sure that all campaigns abroad are stopped because Goebbels is stronger than foreign countries. We are all desperate.” It should be noted that precisely this family have already had enough opportunity to depart and already have money in Belgium.

The businessman B., with whose wife I also spoke, reported: B. had been in his car on the return journey from Saarbrücken to Aachen and was arrested in a small village in the Eifel but released after some hours. Meanwhile he was already being sought by the Gestapo in Aachen. He lingered for several days, wandering around in the vicinity of Aachen. On Friday evening he came home completely broken, in a condition that prompted his wife to call a doctor; the doctor diagnosed myocardial inflammation. The doctor, an Aryan, grasped the situation immediately and prescribed complete bed rest and stated: If anybody comes to take your husband away, telephone me at once.

The mood of the population is passive, but abhors these operations. There is a tacit agreement amongst the Jews to ring the doorbell twice when visiting each other. There was no plundering in Aachen but windows and doors have been wrecked. Of those arrested about 30 have so far returned.Those who have been released do not dare go home and wander around in the Aachen vicinity.

Vicinity of Aachen

In Alsdorf all Jewish flats and houses were wrecked. A teacher Ruhland acted as ringleader.The perpetrators were all in plain clothes, equipped with blacksmiths’ hammers and axes. The leader of the operation ensured that all items in the home that belonged to the Aryan owner were not destroyed, wash basins, toilets, etc. The same procedures were also reported from Höngen. In total about 20 people were arrested, some have since been released.

When some inhabitants went in person to the authorities to state this damage they refused to enter the Jewish homes.

In Borken after the wrecking all old and sick men and women were severely mistreated and imprisoned for some days.

The Holland family living in Stollberg were to depart from Hamburg for Johannesburg on the coming Wednesday. On Friday a Gestapo official came and said: We have protected you until now but now you have to depart otherwise we will arrest you. The family preferred to drop everything and travel to Hamburg.-Some factory owners who are currently engaged in transferring their enterprises into Aryan hands have not been arrested because they have to introduce the new owners.

From small places in the Eifel there are reports that the Christian population is doing everything to look after the Jews who are wandering around in the forests, they take care of food and at night risk their own lives by bringing those unfortunate people into their own homes. Three mining families in Dülken were mentioned particularly.

As seen from Holland

Crossing the Dutch or Belgian borders is completely impossible. The checks are carried out very strictly by Maréchaussés [police] escorted by soldiers with carbines. Both borders are hermetically sealed.

At the moment everything is quiet at the official border crossing at Aachen-Vaals. Taking photographs is forbidden by both sides. Jewish inhabitants of Aachen who possess a Grenzschein are allowed through from the German side if they pluck up the courage to do so. The Dutch also let them through without problem.

The mayor of Vaals, a Catholic, stated to a German-Jewish family in Vaals: “If you want to take in Jewish families from Aachen who are allowed through by the Germans and can prove that they will leave Holland in the foreseeable future, then they can stay in Vaals until that time."

On Saturday evening I went along the main street of Vaals, three men were walking in front of me. Suddenly one of them turned round, put his hand into the inside pocket of his overcoat and passed a newspaper to me with the word, “Alstublieft!” [please]. I immediately recognised that this was a copy of the paper “De Nederlandsche Nationaal Socialist” leader major Kruyt. I spoke with one of the dutch about this matter. He explained to me that he found this operation very odd since this group had never before made any propaganda in Limburg. He thinks that this propaganda is connected with the operations in Germany. Attached is the copy of the newspaper.

Reporter: Herr Bettelheim, Amsterdam