CAUTION
16th November 1938
A. in the Rhineland: a Belgian Catholic visited the relatives of an Antwerp Jewish family. – He encountered seven weeping and distraught women in a kitchen sitting on empty boxes that had been fetched from the cellar. – Furniture and crockery totally destroyed. No glasses, no plates. As the furniture was too large to go through the windows, the "spontaneous" Volkswut had first broken the window frames out of a number of windows to create an opening. So the women dwell in a home without windows. For clothing they possess only what they are wearing, everything else has disappeared. The men – including an elderly Jewish teacher – find themselves in Schutzhaft, apparently in Anrath prison, a Zuchthaus.
Krefeld: an 85-year-old woman had to flee to relatives. She is unable to eat because her false teeth could not be found under all the wreckage in the nocturnal operation – she cannot see because her spectacles shared the fate of all breakable everyday objects.
B: apparently weapons were also searched for during the wrecking of the home of a Jewish widow living alone. During it, a large sum of cash disappeared as well as two savings bank books. Thus the woman is literally without a penny to buy essentials for herself.
Cologne: amongst the mass arrests is the physician Dr. Wallach, foremerly in Andernach, who was transported to the notorious camp at Weimar [Buchenwald] (stone quarry) despite a serious kidney complaint. Information about his fate has not been obtained until now despite urgent pleas.
Essen-Ruhr: the shoe shop Schartenberg (Limbecker Straße) was totally devastated and robbed. The proprietor Ludwig Schartenberg was shot by an SA man when he attempted to deal with the arson and put out the fire. The perpetrator was not arrested by the police and got away unrecognised. (Report not yet checked.)
Düsseldorf: various reports with contradictory details give accounts of the murder of the rabbi Dr. Eschelbacher, who it seems wanted to save objects from the burning synagogue. A further report stated that rabbi Dr. Klein became mentally disturbed after mistreatment by the mob and was taken to an asylum. Various and differing reports are to hand concerning both incidents.
