Report from Nordhausen

In November 1938 the Jewish population of Nordhausen still consisted of c. 400 souls.

“On various occasions on 9th November we were already warned that something was going to happen to us that night. Thus a Nordhauser Sipo who knew me came to me and counselled, “If I were in your position I would get out.” During the day refugees had been arriving from Witzenhausen, where the synagogue had been burned down and the Jews had been mistreated.

It started during the night punctually at half past 1. SA and SS from Nordhausen and further afield came in cars from an assembly. They were all drunk. One could hear hooting in the streets, the smashing of window panes and shouts: “To the synagogue!” Everything was dragged out of the synagogue and burned. A tallit was burned in front of my door, and then the synagogue itself was set on fire. The fire brigade was on the scene promptly and made sure that the fire remained localised. Meanwhile the drunken SA and SS men fetched all Jews, men, women and children, even seriously ill and elderly out of their homes. Some still in nightclothes, we were then taken in cars to “Siechenhof” (a homeless shelter). Of course the homes were wrecked whilst we were being fetched, beds were ripped apart, chair legs were broken off, all window panes of Jewish shops smashed... Apart from very few people who had evidently been forgotten (these were fetched out the following morning in a relatively friendly manner), everyone arrived at Siechenhof beaten and battered. Even two- and three-year-old children were in the group. At Siechenhof there was further battering. I recognised an SS-Oberscharführer amongst the thrashers. SS-Sturmbannführer Sander had excelled himself hitting and kicking as though insane. The police partly tried to prevent the worst but could not do much. We were kicked and chased around in the yard at Siechenhof. It was cold and some were almost naked… Even the women were ordered to run back and forth. They were only released at 8 o’clock the next morning. Men aged 15-85 were separated from the women. Nobody was allowed to leave, and the SS men yelled: “Shit in your trousers!”

Particularly mistreated were:

1) Walter Eisner, a small industrialist, who had incurred the particular displeasure of the Nazis for an unknown reason. He was battered dreadfully and chased through the town.

2) Herrmann Stern (still in Germany!) a former Reichsbannerführer, was badly mistreated.

On the next day (10th November) in the morning we were all taken to Buchenwald (90 km) by country buses, even those who had been forgotten in the night. We were 78 men from Nordhausen. In Buchenwald things really got going even more… the SS literally whipped us into the camp with cat-o’-nine-tails. Fared particularly badly from that:

Gerson, an local court judge, who had been baptised aged 6, with Aryan wife and one son. He was dreadfully battered.

Plaut, a semi-idiot, who was struck on the head not only with whips but with a bunch of keys and was completely bleeding.

After us 600 men from Erfurt arrived. They had all been beaten bloody, one had lost an eye, they were battered like that with sticks and iron rods. Two of the men from Erfurt were in nightclothes and slippers. All had bandages. The men from Erfurt were not struck more in Buchenwald, because even the SS were of the opinion that they had already received enough.

We then had our hair shorn and our personal details taken etc. Then one was informed that until further notice all Jews were banned from post or canteen. We received nothing to eat until Friday evening (we were admitted on Thursday).

At the time there were two barracks in Buchenwald, which could normally accommodate 500 people. We were 2,500 in a single barrack! There was even whipping during the night. Many, many were driven crazy. On the first night in our barrack alone 260 men went mad. The crazy ones were bound and whipped and then dragged to the wash house where they were beaten to death.

Of those from Nordhausen, the following died in the concentration camp:

1) Singer, father of Nordhausen teacher, aged 60. He was driven mad in the night of Sunday to Monday and was beaten to death in the wash house.

2) Son of Singer, a teacher, went into the barbed wire because he could not bear to watch as his father had his hands bound, was dragged around the whole yard.

3) local court judge Gerson, wanted to go into the barbed wire, was then bound and beaten to death.

4) Ernst Plaut, dispatched in the wash house.

5) Bacharach, 81 years old, beaten to death.

6) Lewin, 70 years old, beaten to death.

7) Wolf, did not die in the concentration camp but as a result of his mistreatment there upon his return to Nordhausen.”

Of the 78 people from Nordhausen, seven are dead.