14th November 1938
Herr A. spent several weeks at a large chemical business in Berlin, where he was attending a medical course. He stayed with his wife in Charlottenburg with people one must describe as “Nazis”. Nevertheless these people were horrified by the events of 10th November and emphatically declared their opposition to the way Jews were being treated.
On Thursday morning when Herr A. left the house he saw that a nearby shop selling fashion accessories was destroyed by a crowd of young lads. Going further, he passed the Neumann corsetry business, a large shop on the corner, and saw to his horror that the same thing was happening. The populace stood there in dumb terror. Nobody dared to try to oppose them. However eventually looting began. Women were fighting over lingerie etc. Herr A. observed exactly the same thing at a shoe shop.
At 2 o’clock Herr A. took the city railway from Westend to Zoologischer Garten station. When he passed Fasanenstraße he saw the synagogue still burning. A fire engine stood in front of it. But nothing much was being done to put out the fire. They only sought not to let it spread to the nearby houses. However the small administration building where the reading and lecture rooms used to be was completely burned down.
A Jew who drove past by car was suddenly attacked by a crowd of young men and in few moments beaten until he bled. Then a police motor cyclist arrived, the injured man was lifted into the sidecar and driven away. A passer-by who expressed his outrage was attacked in the same way and only just managed to save himself from the young fellows’ rage. It is remarkable that amongst the perpetrators were not only the usual street riff raff but men with Party badges. (It happened at about ten past 2 in front of the burning synagogue in Fasanenstrasse).
In the afternoon Herr A. travelled to Potsdam. There the same picture was displayed: every single Jewish business destroyed, the synagogues ravaged.
People rarely talked about this pogrom and only in secret. Amongst working people there was horror at this shamefulness and anyway fear that the workers would have to pay for the lost stock through taxes and compensate for hardship. It was said, even in so-called National Socialist circles, that it had not been as bad as this during the Spartacist Uprising in Berlin. They regretted they had to be silent as almost everyone’s employment depended in one way or another on the Party.
Representatives from the Party came to the chemical business looking for Herr A. three times and enquiries were made about him. This was probably in connection with the fact that he had repeatedly expressed his horror. But occasionally Germans also expressed themselves indignantly to him and said that they were ashamed to be German.
On leaving Germany Herr A. was questioned by SS men between Bentheim and Osnabrück and was also searched. There was evident fear that he had kept a record of what he had seen. It was argued that every Dutchman who said he was participating in scientific courses in Germany was certainly involved in politics. Was not the firm where he worked a Jewish one, etc.
The chemical firm in question, which incidentally is world famous, suddenly dismissed the last Jewish employees during these November days. They should really have stayed until the end of the year.
The medical course was led by an Aryan who said roughly the following however, “The names of the Jewish researchers Starkenstein and Neisser are admittedly no longer desirable in Germany. However the truth must be served and these researchers have done science a great service.” Apart from many German doctors, a Dutch man (Herr A.), a Hungarian and a Turk were attending the course.
Herr A. heard from Austrians that in general there was discontent that the good jobs were in the hands of Reichsdeutsche, whereby the Austrians had not come out of it well.
When Goebbels’ decree was issued at 5 o’clock, the devastation had not yet stopped. At half past eight in the evening and even later the destruction in Friedrichstraße and in the arcade was still going on.
The Jews’ anxiety was already great. Herr A., who used to go to a Jewish shop before this pogrom, was told by the female proprietor that as an Aryan he was not allowed to buy anything from her. First he had to prove that he was Dutch.
Herr A. had taken part in the meeting of Catholic youth organisations in the Camillus church on Karlplatz and spoke to the clergy. One of the priests pointed out that the Catholic Church still holds great power as long as it remains united. The churches are full and a good mood prevails amongst Catholics. This is also the case with the Protestants. However Catholic persecution is also expected!
A Dutchman who had expressed his indignation was arrested on Thursday evening. He would have been released if he had said no more; however he refused.
On the evening of the 10th November a policeman and an SS man stood guard at every business that had been destroyed.
