”But the Story
Didn't End
that Way…”
This Educational Ki t was Original ly Produced to
Commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Kristal lnacht Pogrom
The International School for Holocaust Studies
Yad Vashem Information Systems
© Yad Vashem 2000
Production: Coordinator Avraham Milgram
Writers Batya Dvir, Avraham Milgram, Guy Miron, Hadas
Steuer
Didactic Adaptation Shulamit Imber, Avraham Milgram (Yad Vashem);
Yael Barenholz, Hava Fono (Youth & Society
Administration)
Academic Advisor Dr. Daniel Fraenkel
Visual Research Orit Adorian, Avraham Milgram, Hadas Steuer
Technical Research Doron Avraham, Orit Adurian, Batya Dvir, Avraham
Milgram, Guy Miron, Hadas Steuer, Irena Steinfeldt
Critical Reading Chaya Regev
Production Manager Ayala Appelbaum
Tehnical Assistance Effi Neumann
Graphics Einat Berlin
Language Editor Arieh Saposnik
Internet Version Yad Vashem Information Systems
Table of Contents
Teachers’ Preface .....................................................................................................4
Historical Overview..................................................................................................6
The Jews of Germany 1870-1918.....................................................6
The Jews of Germany in the Weimar Republic ................................8
Anti-Jewish Policy, 1933-1938 ........................................................9
Explanations and Brief Readings for the Posters ..................................................... 12
A Visit to the Exhibition: “And the Story Did Not End There…” ........................... 49
Chronological Table of Events, 1933-1938…………………………………………60
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Teachers’ Preface
Kristallnacht was a series of riots that took place throughout the German Reich
(Germany and Austria) on the 9th and 10th of November 1938, and represented an
important turning point in the history of the Jews of Germany. Over 1,000 synagogues
were destroyed during the pogrom throughout Germany and Austria. A great deal of
damage was done to Jewish property, and for the first time, tens of thousands of Jews
were sent to concentration camps simply because they were Jews.
The International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem considers the
production of an educational kit to promote familiarity with the fate of German Jewry
in the 1930’s, to be of great importance. The kit is meant to provide teachers and
students with up to date and readily available didactic tools, adapted for educational
needs.
T a r g e t a u d i e n c e : Middle school and high school students in formal and informal educational
frameworks.
T h e k i t i s c o m p o s e d o f t h r e e s e c t i o n s :
� 18 posters which tell the story of German Jewry from the Weimar Republic
through the late 1930’s. The posters are arranged in chronological order and allow
the observer to understand the process by which anti-Jewish policy in the German
Reich was crystallized, reaching a peak in the vast pogrom of 9-10 November
1938. The pictures incorporate quotations from some of the period’s central
figures – Jews and non-Jews – which provide the viewer with a further level of
understanding. The combination of pictures and quotations aids in a
comprehensive and in-depth view of the human drama and its participants. The
posters can be used on their own, as an exhibition, or as an educational tool for the
study of the period in formal and informal educational frameworks.
� A didactic booklet which includes:
1. A historical survey and overview
2. Short readings to accompany each poster
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3. A visit to the exhibition “And the Story Did Not End There…” with
suggestions for activities with young participants. The activities take place
as a guided tour through the exhibition, with a discussion of the meanings
which arise from the Kristallnacht pogrom.
4. A chronological table of events for the years 1933-1938
5. A bibliographical list of recommended reading.
� A documentary video movie which focuses on the events of Kristallnacht and its
implications. The film, which is based on survivors’ testimonies and documentary
visual materials from the period itself, contributes to an understanding of the
events and allows disparate groups to relate to the survivors’ stories.
This kit can contribute to a greater familiarity with the unique history of German
Jewry in the 1930’s, with an emphasis on the events preceding the Kristallnacht
pogrom. The 9-10 November pogrom constitutes a turning point and in many senses
the climax of a process. It therefore cannot be understood separately from the
historical context in which it took place.
The kit can also be used on Holocaust Memorial Day, and as a helpful tool for history
teachers teaching about the history of German Jewry during the first half of the
twentieth century.
T h e p o s t e r s c a n b e d i v i d e d i n t o f o u r t o p i c s :
A. Posters 1 and 3 relate to the Jews of the Weimar Republic: questions of identity,
legal, economic and social status, and the appearance of a racist antisemitic
movement in the form of the National Socialist Party on the Republic’s political
scene.
B. Posters 4, 5, 6, 7, 12, 14 relate to Nazi policy in Germany, 1933-1938.
C. Posters 8, 9, 11, 13 relate to the Jewish response to Nazi policy.
D. Posters 15-18 relate to the events of Kristallnacht, 9-10 November 1938.
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Historical Overview
T h e J e w s o f G e r m a n y 1 8 7 0 - 1 9 1 8 Throughout the nineteenth century, Jews in the various German states gradually
advanced toward greater equality and emancipation. This process was completed with
the establishment of the unified German state in 1870. As early as the late eighteenth
century, thinkers associated with the German enlightenment had expressed views
calling for the incorporation of Jews into the political and social life of the state in
return for Jewish willingness to forego their differences and their separation from the
society around them, and their transformation into productive citizens. The Jews
agreed to this principle in large part: They adopted the German language and strove to
be integrated into German culture. They took part in the general processes of
modernization, and above all – viewed Germany as their homeland.
Throughout the nineteenth century, the Jews of Germany underwent a process
of accelerated urbanization, found their way into the German middle class, and some
even became central figures in German economic life – bankers, merchants, owners of
department stores, industrialists, etc. The Jews’ successful integration into German
economic life did not go unnoticed by their opponents, and contributed to the
formulation of antisemitic stereotypes.
Based on their desire to be integrated into German society, the Jews were
willing to make changes in their religious life and to modify their tradition. Some of
the new religious trends in modern Judaism began to mature in Germany toward the
mid nineteenth century. The Reform Movement sought to make far-reaching changes
in Jewish tradition. Its members believed that it was only by defining Judaism in
exclusively confessional terms, devoid of any nationalistic elements, that Judaism
would be able to continue to exist in the modern world. The neo-Orthodox also
supported modernization and integration into the German state, but sought to preserve
a commitment to halacha – Jewish law.
The process of Jewish integration into German society was complex and
multifarious. Alongside a weakening of religious bonds, conversions and inter-
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marriage, which became increasingly ubiquitous during the first three decades of the
twentieth century, modern Jewish cultural creativity blossomed, as is reflected in the
Jewish press and in Jewish literature of the period. The economic success of many
German Jews was also expressed in their strength as a community, and could be seen
in the lavish synagogues that were built in the large cities, most notably in Berlin.
One phenomenon which had a profound impact on the Jews of Germany was
the immigration of Jews from Eastern Europe, which began to take place in
considerable numbers in the late nineteenth century. The presence of these Eastern
European Jews was seen by many German Jews as posing a threat to their own
integration in their homeland, and as a potential catalyst to antisemitism. German
Jewish organizations sought to encourage the Eastern European Jews’ emigration
overseas, or, alternatively, to encourage their “Germanization” so as to minimize their
conspicuousness.
New patterns of organization began to appear among German Jews in the late
nineteenth century. Jews organized in order to counter the antisemitic movements that
had appeared. The “Central Organization of German Citizens of the Mosaic Faith”
was established in 1893, and quickly became the largest Jewish organization in
Germany. The organization called for a deepening of Jewish equality and emphasized
that, in the eyes of its leaders, Judaism was a religious belief only, which does not
conflict with the Jews’ profound sense of belonging to their German homeland.
The Zionist Organization of Germany was established in 1897. German
Zionism represented a different kind of reaction to German antisemitism. At first, the
organization’s activity focused on assistance to the Jews of Eastern Europe, the
victims of Czarist Russia’s antisemitism and pogroms. However, it also sought to
redefine the status of German Jews. The Zionists claimed that Jews, and the Jews of
Germany among them, were not only members of one religion, but a people as well.
They therefore saw their integration into the German state in a more limited manner –
loyal citizenship, but not integration into the German people. Zionism had but very
limited influence on the Jews of Germany.
With the outbreak of the First World War, the vast majority of German Jews,
including most Zionists, joined in the German patriotic fervor. Kaiser Wilhelm’s
pronouncement that all citizens constituted a unified national body, whose different
sections must live in peace with one another echoed loudly among the Jews of
Germany. Many volunteered to serve in the German army even before being called to
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5
service, and approximately 12,000 Jews fell in the line of duty on the battlefields of
the World War. Nevertheless, the war led to a resurgence of antisemitic stereotypes in
Germany, and to an escalation in the vehemence of that antisemitism. In late 1916,
accusations according to which Jewish soldiers shirked their duty and avoided combat
service led to a census of Jewish soldiers in the German army. For German Jews, This
was a profoundly humiliating experience. The results of the census were never made
public.
T h e J e w s o f G e r m a n y i n t h e W e i m a r R e p u b l i c The Weimar Republic, which was established in November 1918 in the wake of the
German defeat in the war, was seen by many Germans as a form of government
imposed upon them from the outside. The fact that Jews could be noted among the
founders of the republic led anti-liberal and antisemitic political movements and
trends to identify the republic with the Jews.
Jews were also conspicuously present among the leaders of the radical left,
who also did not support the republic. The presence of such Jewish leftist leaders as
Rosa Luxembourg, Kurt Eisner and Ernst Toller contributed to the image of Jews as a
subversive element.
The Weimar period was the first time Jews were given nearly full equality.
They began to make their way into many of the state’s organizations which had
previously been closed to them – public service, universities, the legal system, and
even the German government itself. Their contribution to German culture reached
unprecedented heights: Jews stood out in literature and the arts, in philosophy and in
science (scientists such as Albert Einstein). Their numbers among German recipients
of the Nobel Prize was far beyond their proportion in the population. On the other
hand, this period, which was rife with economic crises, was also characterized by new
peaks of antisemitism. Walter Rathenau was assassinated in 1922, a few months after
having been appointed to Foreign Minister. The assassins were motivated in large part
by the fact that Rathenau was a Jew. Radical antisemitic parties grew in strength, and
the activities of extreme nationalist organizations often reached the point of open
violence.
The Weimar period was witness to a new Jewish cultural efflorescence, and
there are those who see it as a veritable renaissance. Young Jews, some of whom were
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influenced by their intense encounter with the Jews of Eastern Europe during the First
World War, sought to rediscover their Jewish roots. Writers, poets and painters turned
to Jewish subject matter. Broad sections of the public expressed an increased interest
in Jewish studies in a variety of associations established for this purpose, and in the
free school for Jewish studies which operated in Frankfurt in the 1920’s under the
management of Franz Rosenzweig and Martin Buber.
Alongside the achievement of full equality of rights and the creative cultural
vitality that characterized the Jews of the Weimar Republic, the Jewish community
was in the midst of a long-range crisis which posed forbidding economic and
demographic threats. Demographically, this was a Jewish community in a process of
decline, characterized by a death rate which was larger than the birth rate. The direct
cause of this phenomenon was the “reversed age pyramid” of German Jewry, with its
large proportion of elderly. Economically, this was a structural crisis in which the
majority of Germany’s Jews remained stuck in the “old middle class” without
fulfilling the paths to promotion and advancement that had been opened up to the
general populace by the processes of industrialization. A particularly large percentage
of Jews had suffered economic blows during the war years and the general economic
crises of 1923 and 1929, which hit the middle class, to which most Jews belonged.
A n t i - J e w i s h P o l i c y , 1 9 3 3 - 1 9 3 8 There were approximately 525,000 Jews living in Germany in 1933, when the Nazi
party attained power and put an end to the Weimar Republic. The Nazi party was
guided by a racist and antisemitic ideology, which served to mold its policies in
general, and its anti-Jewish policy in particular. The anti-Jewish policy developed
gradually. It was forced to contend not only with ideological considerations, but also
with political and economic factors, which impacted upon the fulfillment of
ideological goals.
The first directed anti-Jewish action, which represented the initial steps toward
implementing a nation-wide anti-Jewish policy, took place in April 1933. Hitler’s
government, motivated principally by Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbeles,
decided to initiate a boycott of Jewish businesses in response to the anti-German
“atrocity propaganda” supposedly being disseminated abroad by Jews. Responsibility
for the action was not placed on a governmental body, but rather on a Nazi party
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body, and was headed by Julius Streicher, editor of the antisemitic journal Der
Stürmer.
A gradual process of anti-Jewish legislation followed the boycott, with the aim
of removing Jews from most fields of life, such as the public service, arts and culture,
the media and the press in particular. It was decided at this stage not to touch private
Jewish businesses since this might result in damage to the German economy. One
important law was the “law for the restoration of the professional civil service”, which
was aimed at removing all civil servants who were not Aryan – i.e. Jews. The civil
service included hospitals, universities, government offices and all areas of public
service.
The height of anti-Jewish legislation was reached on September 15 1935, with
the ratification of the Nuremburg Laws. This set of laws was a considerable step
further, as it defined Jews as members of a separate race, of a different blood, who
can in no way belong to German society or be citizens of the German state.
In the spirit of this legislation, a Jew was defined as anyone who had three
grandparents who were racially pure Jews. A Mischling, or member of a mixed race,
was defined as anybody who had either one or two Jewish grandparents.
Notwithstanding the Nazis’ belief in pseudo-scientific racial doctrines and their
insistence that Jews are to be defined racially rather than religiously, in practice they
were forced to revert to an individual’s belonging to the community when attempting
to identify who is a Jew.
Many Jews hoped that the Nuremberg Laws might bring the process of anti-
Jewish escalation to an end, since they provided a legal foundation for the Jews’
status as second class citizens. In contrast with popular notions, the number of Jewish
emigrants from Germany in the wake of the Nuremberg Laws decreased rather than
increased.
Anti-Jewish policy, which was characterized by rising and falling violence at
different times, had a profound impact on patterns of Jewish emigration from
Germany. Approximately 37,000 Jews emigrated from Germany in 1933. In 1934,
some 24,000 Jews emigrated, and in 1935, 21,000 Jews emigrated.
A relative lull in outward expressions of antisemitism was felt after the
Nuremberg Laws, and in preparation for the 1935 winter Olympics and 1936 summer
games. Anti-Jewish slogans disappeared from public places and there was a decrease
in anti-Jewish attacks.
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Germany’s improved international position and the crystallization of the “four
year plan” – the economic plan designed to prepare Germany for war – led to an
economic assault on the Jews, which had been avoided previously. This policy was
expressed in an accelerated process of “Aryanization” – takeover of Jewish property
by Aryans. The process of Aryanization coincided with German foreign policy: the
more aggressive Germany grew in its foreign policy, the greater the force given to
Aryanization practices.
In 1938, anti-Jewish policy in the German Reich reached a peak. The policy of
Aryanization was accelerated. The SS, which had become the leading factor in the
implementation of anti-Jewish policy, orchestrated a number of actions – most
notably the forced emigration of the Jews of Austria, which had been annexed to the
Reich. The atmosphere of anti-Jewish violence, which intensified from day to day,
was given full expression in the November pogrom, known as Kristallnacht.
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Explanations and Brief Readings for the Posters
P o s t e r s 1 - 2 : J e w s i n t h e W e i m a r R e p u b l i c
Jews in Weimar Republic, 1918 - 1933
With the establishment of the Weimar Republic in November 1918, a new era began
in the history of German Jewry. It appeared that the emancipation of the Jews had
come to full fruition. All of the restrictions that still existed on Jews were annulled,
and Jews could now take part in all aspects of public life. Jews made important
contributions to culture, economics and science.
Along with the Jews’ unprecedented and intensive integration into German
society, antisemitism also intensified. Political antisemitism grew increasingly
violent. One of the peaks of antisemitic escalation during the Weimar Republic was
the assassination of Walter Rathenau, the republic’s Jewish foreign minister. His
assassins did not conceal the fact that Rathenau’s Jewish origins stood at the base of
their motivation to murder him.
German Jewry during the Weimar period was not uniform. It was composed of
Zionists alongside assimilationists, long-time German Jews alongside newcomers
(Ostjuden – Eastern European Jews). The various trends were engaged in ongoing
cultural and ideological struggles. The meaning and practical importance of the old
distinction between “Eastern” and “Western” Jews grew more pronounced after 1918.
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Jewish immigration into Germany from Eastern Europe increased considerably in the
wake of the world war and the revolutionary convulsions which followed it. Jewish
organizations in Germany worked for the absorption of the immigrants, but did not
encourage them to remain in Germany. They were not so much concerned with the
economic burden of caring for the immigrants as they were with the potential risk
they posed to Jewish integration into the surrounding German society. The
immigrants stood out in their different dress and behavior, which were foreign and
even repulsive to many Germans. The Jews of Germany appeared to have internalized
their Christian neighbors’ feelings of rejection and disaffection with these Eastern
European Jewish immigrants. The term “Ostjuden” (Eastern Jews) which was
attached to the immigrants contained more than a grain of derision and contempt.
The activities of the various Jewish political, religious and social organizations
increased during the Weimar era. These included the Centralverein, the Union of
German Jews, the organizations of liberal and Orthodox Jewry, and the Hilfsverein.
New social and political organizations also came into being. One important new
organization was the “Union of Jewish War Veterans”, which sought to safeguard the
rights of Jewish veterans and to defend their honor. The veterans’ union was at first
open to Jews of varying political points of view. With time, however, it adopted a
German nationalistic ideology, which made it difficult for Zionists to maintain their
membership in the organization.
R e a d i n g f o r P o s t e r N u m b e r 1 :
A Bridegroom describes his marriage ceremony in the Liberal (Reform) Temple
in 1924 [The first sentences describe the groom’s patriotic feelings which stemmed from his
education and his experiences as a soldier during the First World War].
“… Immersed in the humanistic education of the Royal Prussian Gymnasium, fellow
soldier to German soldiers in the ditches, in the bunkers and in the artillery craters …
graduate of four universities in the best German tradition, member of the German
Theatrical Association since I worked as a beginning playwright and director in
Würzburg, son of a German patriot (in every inch of his being) and a leading
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economic figure. I myself had been for years a partner in the P. W. Grünfeld textile
company, which had been established by my grandfather – [and here he describes his
marriage ceremony]. I strode through a silent snow storm on the morning of New
Year’s Day 1924 next to my bride. I was dressed in a tuxedo and top hat, amongst the
hundreds of people who filled the Lützowstrasse Synagogue. Leo Baeck blessed our
union in a venerable and unforgettable manner…. This liberal synagogue, where I
had been accustomed to hearing the prayer for the state in the German language
since my Bar Mitzvah, could claim many famous German-Jewish members. This
synagogue had been the place to which I had come from the front during the First
World War on the final Yom Kippur of the war, and it was there that I had been called
to the Torah together with my comrades in arms. On my wedding day, singer Olga
Eisner sang prayer songs and Beethoven’s “I Love You”, accompanied by an organ.
Up to this day, I am still not certain if fewer than half of those present at my wedding
were non-Jews. Nobody imagined at that time, on January 1 1924, that a decade later
so many good Germans would be expelled from German society under the racist
“Aryan clauses”. Fritz V. Grünfeld, Heimgesucht – Heimgefunden, Betrachtung und Bericht, Arani-Verlag,
Berlin, 1979, pp. 34-36.
R e a d i n g f o r P o s t e r N u m b e r 2 :
A. Following is the story of the people photographed floating in the river, as told by
Rebbeca Piron (to the authors of the program), daughter of the young boy in the
center of the poster.
“The poster shows a group of boys sitting in a row-boat. The boys are cousins who
went on a Sunday outing in 1920. The two children in the center of the poster are two
of the three Selinger brothers. The boy on the right is the eldest – Izzi (Israel)
Selinger. To his left, the younger one, is Menahem Selinger (Rebecca Piron’s father).
The boy on the right, sitting behind Menahem (second from the left) is unknown. The
boy to the left is Mendel Selinger.”
Izzi and Menahem were born and raised in Leipzig, Germany. Their parents had
emigrated from Poland a number of years earlier. They owned a chain of shoe stores
in Leipzig and were fairly prosperous. The mother also took part in running the
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business. The family employed a young Christian maid from the countryside to help
in running the household and in raising the children. She lived in their house for
sixteen years.
The Selingers were a traditional family. They celebrated Jewish holidays in a
traditional manner, went to synagogue on Saturdays and holidays and sent their
children to a Jewish school (at least for elementary school). However, the parents did
not refrain from opening the store on the Sabbath. They employed a “melamed” [a
traditional Jewish teacher] to enrich the children’s Jewish education. He provided
them with a religious education in their home. In addition, Menahem spent a number
of years studying with a much-admired Hebrew teacher (Dr. Weskin, who was
murdered in the Holocaust). Later, when they arrived in Palestine, he already spoke
Hebrew quite well.
The photograph tells of a serene and comfortable life. And indeed that is what
their life was. Izzi and Menahem were members of Jewish youth movements. At a
later age they developed Zionist tendencies, and prepared themselves for immigration
to Palestine. This was also true of their younger brother, Pinhas.
Izzi immigrated to Palestine in 1933, and began his life in the new homeland
as a member of Kibbutz Ein Harod. He later moved to the city and served for many
years in the army. He passed away a number of years ago.
Menahem was about 22 years old in 1936, when the atmosphere in Germany
began to be filled with evil portends. One day he received the certificate∗ he so longed
for, which constituted an entry visa into Palestine. The certificate could be used either
by a single person or by a married couple. He had had a steady girlfriend, and he now
had a dilemma whether to go to Palestine or to remain in Germany, get married, and
then go together.
The decision had to be made within 24 hours, since many people awaited such
certificates. The couple decided to marry and emigrate to Palestine. Preparations were
made in haste, and approximately one month after their wedding, they parted from
their parents and set off for the longed-for yet unfamiliar country. They never again
saw Menahem’s parents (Zvi and Dina Selinger). They were murdered in the
Holocaust. They were fortunate enough to see the parents of his wife, Shulamit
∗
A certificate permitting immigration into Palestine within the framework of the British Mandate’s immigration policies.
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(Pritzi) a number of years later. (They had been able to escape to the United States,
and were then able to immigrate to Israel in 1949).
Menahem and Pritzi (Shulamit) settled in Kefar Haroeh, a religious workers’
moshav. It was in this spirit that they raised their children. They lived together for 61
years and lived to see children and grandchildren. They worked hard, but always
maintained an air of optimism, joy and a strong bond to the land and to their people.
Ms. Pritzi (Shulamit) still lives in their Kefar Haroeh home.
B. “My mother, who had a beautiful and very cultivated voice, encouraged young
female artists. One singer, whom I used to amaze, invited me to accompany her on a
stroll. This all took place in Insterburg, in Eastern Prussia. We met a Russian or Polish
Jew, who asked me a question. I did not respond. The man spoke Yiddish. Although I
did not know Yiddish, I did understand the address about which he had asked. “Why
don’t you answer that man?” the woman asked me. “Are you ashamed perhaps?” I felt
hurt and destroyed. I showed the man the way, and then ran off without even saying
goodbye. Kurt Blumenfeld, The Jewish Question as an Experience (Hebrew), Jerusalem, 1963.
D i s c u s s i o n q u e s t i o n s f o r p o s t e r 1 a n d 2
1. “I am a German and a Jew in equal measure – one cannot be separated from the
other” (Jakob Wassermann, writer, 1921). In your opinion, do the photographs
and readings in the booklet reflect this writer’s words?
2. Point to expressions which characterize the cultural world of German Jewry in the
description of the wedding in the liberal synagogue.
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Pos ter Number 3 : R ac ia l Ant i semi t i sm Dur ing the Weimar
E ra
Racial Antisemitism During the Weimar Era
The caricature and the accompanying citation both date from 1924, the year in which
Hitler wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle), while in prison. Racial antisemitism in its
Nazi version stood out in its extremity as early as the very initial stages of the Weimar
Republic. It had adopted the mythological image of the omnipotent Jew, who rules
social and economic forces from his dark recesses. The misleading nature of the
caricature is particularly manifest given the fact that Jews were not at all a dominant
force in German industry. Moreover, since most Jews belonged to the middle class,
they were hit at least as hard as the rest of the population by the economic crises
which characterized the period. The central motifs of Nazi antisemitism were
formulated during the 1920’s: democracy as beneficial to the Jews; the Jews as
foreigners who are taking over Germany; Marxism and capitalism as the fruit of
Jewish ploys; the Jews as a rootless race, which constitutes the antithesis of the Aryan
race; Judaism as a threat to all of humanity.
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R e a d i n g s f o r P o s t e r N u m b e r 3
From the Nazi Party Platform:
...4. Only Nationals (Volksgenossen) can be citizens of the state. Only persons
of German blood can be nationals, regardless of religious affiliation. No Jew
can therefore be a German national.
5. Any person who is not a citizen will be able to live in Germany only as a
guest and must be subject to legislation for Aliens.
6. Only a citizen is entitled to decide the leadership and laws of the state. We
therefore demand that only citizens may hold public office, regardless of
whether it is a national, state or local office. . . .
Documents on the Holocaust – Selected sources on the destruction of the Jews of Germany
and Austria, Poland, and the Soviet Union. Edited by Yitzhak Arad, Yisrael Gutman, Abraham
Margaliot Jerusalem, Yad Vashem, 1981 p. 15.
D i s c u s s i o n q u e s t i o n s f o r P o s t e r N u m b e r 3 :
1) What messages does the poster convey?
2) What graphic elements did the caricaturist use?
3) What messages are added by the quotation of Hitler’s words on the
ideology of the antisemitic party?
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Pos ter Number 4 : A New Age in Germany :
The Naz i s ’ R i se to Power
A New Age in Germany !
This photograph reflects the mood in Germany on the eve of the Nazis’ rise to power.
Hitler made extensive use of mass rallies and military marches to arouse the masses
and to create an atmosphere of fear and terror. Hitler used the mechanisms of the
democratic state to attain power. He was supported by conservatives who thought
they would be able to control him – an illusion which vanished quickly. Immediately
after their ascent to power, the Nazis began to establish a new political culture, which
was expressed through a policy of terror. Political opponents were arrested and
incarcerated in concentration camps. SA men were given a free hand to vent their rage
on political opponents and on Jews; the masses were recruited to support the regime
and its various methods of propaganda. This was the beginning of the Nazi revolution,
which led to the eradication of the liberal democratic regime and the establishment of
a totalitarian state.
R e a d i n g s f o r P o s t e r N u m b e r 4
A. “It seems like a dream. The Wilhelmstrasse is ours. The leader is already
working in chancellery. We stand in the window upstairs, watching hundreds
and thousands of people march past the aged president of the Reich and the
young chancellor in the flaming torchlight, shouting their joy and gratitude…
It is come! The leader is appointed chancellor.” Goebbels diary, January 30, 1933
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B. The tension of wantonness, expectation, apprehension and a hidden purpose
descended on the capital city on the day that the boot-men took over its streets and
squares.
They were everywhere, in their brown uniforms, speeding in their cars and on
their motorcycles, carrying torches, playing marches, pounding with their heels and
passing through – incessantly marching and marching.
The pounding of their boots awakened and aroused the people. Nobody was
quite sure what the new order would bring with it, but the citizens of Berlin anxiously
and tensely awaited.
Like during the war years, the masses ran around excitedly without purpose.
More than anywhere else, the pounding of the storm troopers’ boots echoed
throughout the western parts of Berlin, on the Kurfürstendamm, on the
Tauentzienstrasse, past the comfortable and spacious homes of the black-haired and
dark-eyed – the large-scale merchants, the professors, theater managers, lawyers, the
doctors and the bankers. The chorus “Wenn vom Judenblut das Messer spritzt dann
geht’s noch mal so gut, so gut” (When Jewish blood drips from the dagger, we have
hope, we have meaning), was shouted loudly from the booted men’s throats, as if to
assure that the words penetrate the houses.
[…] Jagur Karnowski spent all of his time in the streets. He did not go to
school, but instead wandered around the city, thirstily taking in the sounds and sights
and smells of the reorientation that was sweeping the nation.
[…] Jagur’s blue eyes sparkled with patriotism. He allowed himself to be
swept up with the masses and avidly searched for excitement and experiences. The
loud music animated his young blood, and the measured pounding of the marching
feet elevated his spirit. Like all those surrounding him, he reached out around him
with a stiff arm raised upward every time a new company marched by. Like everybody
else, he cheered and shouted out slogans.
[…] He saw no connection between the Jewish blood, whose spilling the
marchers sang about, and the Jewish blood flowing in his veins. He heard only the
melody, not the words. Like the words of a hymn, for him and for the rest of Berlin’s
Jews, they served only to accompany the melody.
[…] He found himself near the Reichstag. The wide square was filled with
flags and torches and the sound of marching men. From their open cars, the nation’s
new leaders excited those who had gathered. The masses cheered, were answered
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with a salute, and shouted hysterically. Jagur felt the blood climbing to his head. He
found himself cheering and zealously repeating the ugly slogans along with the
excited masses. For the first time, he felt that life had a meaning and a purpose. And
he knew he would never again be what he had been before. Israel Joshua Singer, The House of Karnowski, Tel-Aviv 1987, pp. 196-97; 202-203.
D i s c u s s i o n Q u e s t i o n s f o r P o s t e r N u m b e r 4
1) What, in your opinion, is the atmosphere created by the Nazis’ parades and flags
throughout Germany?
2) How do you think the Nazi parades effected average German citizens? Explain.
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Pos ter Number 5 : Economic B oycot t
The Economic Boycott, April 1 1933
Approximately two months after they had gained power, the Nazis declared a boycott
of Jewish businesses. Such a boycott had been a wide-held vision during the Weimar
Republic, but this was the first time it was organized by the ruling party and was
supported by state institutions. The boycott was presented as a response to the
“atrocity propaganda” supposedly being disseminated abroad by world Jewry against
the Nazi regime. On Saturday, April 1 1933, SA guards were posted near Jewish
businesses, preventing Germans from entering the establishments. The boycott, which
at first had not been given a time limit, was brought to a halt after one day, due
primarily to a lack of response among the German public, and fear among leading
economic figures that it might have damaging implications.
R e a d i n g s f o r P o s t e r N u m b e r 5
Edwin Landau, a Jew from a small town in Western Prussia, described his
experiences on boycott day, April 1 1933:
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“And for this reason we young Jews had once stood in the trenches in cold and rain,
and spilled our blood to protect the land from the enemy. Was there no comrade any
more from those days who was sickened by these goings-0n? One saw them pass by
on the street, among them quite a few for whom one had done a good turn. They had a
smile on their faces that betrayed their malicious pleasure.
I took my war decorations, put them on, went into the street, and visited
Jewish shops, where at first I was also stopped. But I was seething inside, and most of
all I would have liked to shout my hatred into the faces of these barbarians. Hatred,
hatred – when had it become part of me? – It was only a few hours ago that a change
had occurred within me. This land and this people that until now I had loved and
treasured had suddenly become my enemy. So I was not a German anymore, or I was
no longer supposed to be one. That, of course, cannot be settled in a few hours. But
one thing I felt immediately: I was ashamed that I had once belonged to this people. I
was ashamed about the trust that I had given to so many who now revealed
themselves as my enemies. Suddenly the street, too, seemed alien to me.” Monika Richarz (ed.) Jewish Life in Germany – memoirs from three centuries. Trans. By Stella P.
Rosenfeld & Sidney Rosenfeld. Indiana University Press, 1991 p. 311.
Report of the Dortmund state police, August 1935:
Not always did the boycott limit itself to avoidance of Jewish businesses. It also
manifested itself in numerous attacks directed against Jewish shops, whole show
windows were defaced with slogans or smashed in. In many instances, customers
were also photographed or publicly denounced in some other manner. These attacks
were generally disapproved, since one suspected that the NS-HAGO [National
Socialist Organization of Crafts, Commerce and Industry] was behind them, and
assumed therefore that their real reason was competitive envy. Avraham Barkai, From Boycott to Annihilation – the economic struggle of German Jews 1933-45, pp.
57-58.
D i s c u s s i o n Q u e s t i o n s f o r P o s t e r N u m b e r 5
1) to what end do you suppose the picture was taken?
2) How do you think the people in the photograph relate to the sign being held by the
boy? Explain.
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Pos ter s Number 6-7 : The Nuremberg Laws
and Fo rced I so la t ion
Racial Lews – September 15 1935
The Nuremberg Laws were ratified on September 15 1935. These laws constituted the
peak of anti-Jewish legislation in Germany. The two central laws were the “Reich
Citizenship Law” and the “Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor”. The
“Reich Citizenship Law” retracted Jews’ voting rights and turned them into second
class residents of the state. It distinguished between “citizenship” – which could apply
only to those who were German by blood – and “subjects”. The “Law for the
Protection of German Blood and Honor” forbade sexual intercourse between Jews and
non-Jews, both inside and outside the framework of marriage. Employment of
German maids under the age of 45 in Jewish homes was prohibited.
On September 15, the final day of the Nazi Party’s convention in Nuremberg,
in a special session of the Reichstag, the discriminatory racial laws were ratified. The
laws’ express purpose was to create a final legal and social separation between
German Jews and Germans. This policy of segregation took on a number of additional
forms as well: Jews were forbidden from entering theaters, special benches were
designated for them in public parks, and more. The Nuremberg Laws created a new
definition of the term “Jew”, according to racial origin. This definition served as a
legal precedent in all of the anti-Jewish legislation that ensued.
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R e a d i n g f o r P o s t e r N u m b e r 6 :
From the Memoirs of Martha Appel (nèe Insel), written in the United States in
1940-1941
“One day, for the first time in along while, I saw my children coming back from
school with shining eyes, laughing and giggling together. Most of the classes had
been gathered that morning in the big hall, since an official of the new Rasseamt, the
office of races, had come to give a talk about the differences of races. ‘I asked the
teacher if I could go home,’ my daughter was saying, ‘but she told me she had orders
not to dismiss anyone. You may imagine it was an awful talk. He said that there are
two groups of races, a high group and a low one. The high and upper race that was
destined to rule the world was the Teutonic, the German race, while one of the lowest
races was the Jewish race. And then, Mommy, he looked around and asked one of the
girls to come to him. The children again began to giggle about their experience. ‘First
we did not know’, my girl continued, ‘what he intended, and we were very afraid
when he picked out Eva. Then he began, and he was pointing at Eva, ‘Look here, the
small head of this girl, her long forehead, her very blue eyes, and blond hair’, and he
was lifting one of her long blond braids. ‘And look’, he said, ‘at hertall and slender
figure. These are the unequivocal marks of a pure and unmixed Teutonic race’.
Mommy, you should have heard how at this moment all the girls burst into laughter.
Even Eva could not help laughing. Then from all sides of the hall there was shouting,
‘She is a Jewess!’ You should have seen the officer’s face! I guess he was lucky that
the principal got up so quickly and, with a sign to the pupils, stopped the laughing
and shouting and dismissed the man, thanking him for his interesting and very
enlightening talk. At that we began again to laugh, but he stopped us immediately.
Oh, I was so glad that the teacher had not dismissed me and I was there to hear it”. Monika Richarz (ed.) Jewish Life in Germany – memoirs from three centuries. Trans. By Stella P.
Rosenfeld & Sidney Rosenfeld. Indiana University Press, 1991 pp. 355-356.
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D i s c u s s i o n Q u e s t i o n s f o r P o s t e r N u m b e r 6 :
1) What did the Germans hope to accomplish by humiliating a German woman?
2) What are Edwin Landau’s feelings on the day the boycott was declared against
the Jews?
R e a d i n g f o r P o s t e r N u m b e r 7 :
Segregation as Policy
From the Testimony of Joseph B. Levy:
Contact with “Aryans” – even casual greetings upon meeting in the street and in
public places – grew less and less frequent. Even former acquaintances and friends,
colleagues, former war comrades hesitated to converse with us, and instead greeted
us clandestinely. They often explained their behavior as stemming from fear of
persecution or some other unpleasantness. One example from among many: An
elderly lady whom I almost did not recognize at first glance greeted me on the street
from a distance and appeared to be glad to see me. She was a work colleague from
one of the government schools in which I had taught decades earlier. We approached
one another. But after we had exchanged a number of words, my glance fell on the
Party emblem pinned to her dress. When she noticed my glance, she grew suddenly
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pale, and without saying another word turned and walked away. She had suddenly
realized that she, a respectable Party member, was standing and talking with a Jew,
thus risking banishment from the Party. We, of course, belong to those few decent
Jews. We heard this dubious compliment almost every day, accompanied by the
following words: “Yes, if only they were all like you”. The German people was led
into madness…. Yad Vashem Archives, 033.975
D i s c u s s i o n Q u e s t i o n s f o r P o s t e r N u m b e r 7
1) What sub-title would you give the poster?
2) Who in your opinion ought to feel ashamed in the picture?
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Pos ters 8-9 : The Jewish R esponse
Jewish Consciousness A Zionst Response
The Nazi policy of excluding the Jews from German society led many Jews to
understand that their fate was bound up with the fate of the Jewish people, even if
they had not previously felt or known this. The Jews of Germany took refuge amongst
themselves and increasingly developed their own public and cultural life. High
schools and elementary schools were opened for Jewish pupils. The teaching staff was
recruited from among the Jewish teachers who had been dismissed from their
positions in the general schools. Jewish writers and artists began to create for a Jewish
audience alone. Distribution of the Jewish press grew. Jewish publishing houses
increased their production, and books of Jewish content – poetry, history, and essays –
were given wide distribution. The Nazi government accepted the initiative to organize
Jewish cultural life and place it under government supervision. The Ministry of
Propaganda created a special department which supervised Jewish cultural activities.
The Jewish organization that was established to this end was called the “Jüdischer
Kulturbund”, the Jewish Cultural Organization. This organization held concerts and
plays, lectures, art exhibitions, and more.
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R e a d i n g f o r P o s t e r s 8 - 9
“We avoided making purchases in Christian stores. An industrious Jew opened a
small grocery store in Plock. Of his own accord, Berti [husband of Frida Hirsch,
author of these memoirs] immediately sent a letter to the Evangelical Treatment
Center and to the Medical Association, announcing his resignation. We took the
children out of their schools on April 2, in spite of the fact that the principals
explained that our children still make up only one percent of the class. “Further
words are unnecessary”. Our children began to take English lessons from a Jewish
teacher who had been fired from her job with no prior notice.” Frida Hirsch Mein Weg von Karlsruhe über Heidelberg nach Haifa 1890 – 1965. (Private publication),
1965 p. 135.
“There were several goals. One goal, perhaps Buber’s main goal, was that after this
catastrophe for German Jewry, at least in terms of the loss of Emancipation, they
should be given the possibility of defending themselves, understanding why we are
suffering so much, and identifying with this suffering… Second – it was necessary to
help educate teachers who had until then taught in high schools and public schools,
for now almost all of them had lost their jobs. We had to prepare them; they came to
us as almost total ignoramuses… and they had to prepare themselves to obtain
assistance so they could work in the new schools that were formed at that time
because most of the Jewish pupils had also been expelled… The intent was to attract
them to the Jewish spiritual heritage, which was alien to most of them… We had
values that are worth suffering for. It’s not something that you should throw away
now, but the opposite – to get into that historical heritage, which was part of the
difficulty… Ernest Simon (interview) The Yellow Badge, Open University of Israel.
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D i s c u s s i o n Q u e s t i o n s f o r P o s t e r s 8 - 9
1) What meanings do you think Jewish holidays – and Hanukah in particular –
were given at a time when German Jews were being persecuted under the Nazi
regime?
2) What does this say about German Jews’ concepts of Jewish identity during
this period?
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Pos ter Number 10 : A ry an i zat ion
Arynization
“Aryanization” is the term commonly used for the transfer of Jewish-owned
independent businesses into German hands. The process of Aryanization
occurred in two stages: “voluntary sales” of Jewish businesses in the years 1933-
1938, and the period of “forced Aryanization”, enforced by law, following the
November 1938 pogrom. During the first stage, that of “voluntary sales”, the
economic boycott and other means of economic pressure were used against
establishments that employed or were owned by a high percentage of Jews.
Firms with international connections and standing were mostly left untouched
due to economic considerations. During the “forced Aryanization” stage, the
process of eliminating Jewish economic activity in Germany had already
advanced considerably, and it was now imposed on all commercial and industrial
establishments still owned by Jews.
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R e a d i n g s f o r P o s t e r N u m b e r 1 0
The Aryanization of Grünfeld – Manufacturer of Bedding and Apparel and
Owner of Prestige Shops for the Same in Berlin and Cologne.
The company managed to survive until 1938, its customers including high-ranking
Nazi Party officials. Grünfeld exhibited its merchandise in the German pavilion at the
Paris World’s Fair in 1936, and even won a prize from the state for its important
contribution to German economy.
Its great success notwithstanding, Grünfeld had to cope with a rising tide of
difficulties.
In 1937, its bank terminated its lines of credit. The Nazi propaganda machine
took vigorous action against the company’s customers and non-Jewish employees by
printing their names in newspapers and defaming them as “slaves of the Jews”.
Newspapers refused to carry Grünfeld advertising. Suppliers began to refuse to work
with the firm. State and Party authorities entangled the company in red tape,
searched its offices, and ransacked the homes of its owners and executives.
Negotiations for the sale of the company were held throughout the summer of
1938.
The company was eventually purchased on September 15 by Walter Kühl, the
owner of a competing firm, at a price far below its market value. The Grünfeld
family emigrated to Palestine a few weeks later.
From the account of Fritz Grünfeld on the Aryanization of the firm: “Our customers were the first front to be mobilized against us in this war of
destruction. Our employees became the second front. The loyalty of our employees
was systematically undermined—this showed itself when they were branded as
“friends of the Jews” by the Stürmer. To facilitate their terrorization, the employees’
full addresses were printed in the paper. The intimidation, the fear of being publicly
marked as a “Slave of the Jews” (Judenknecht), discouraged all those in our firm
who had so far remained loyal to the enterprise. At the same time, it encouraged those
who were inclined to sabotage, to betray and to spy. They went as far as to listen to
our phone conversations, to “check” our mail and to search our garbage bins.
Eventually—apart from the few Jewish workers who were isolated in any case—only
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a few of the hundreds of employees remained loyal to us and were not intimidated by
the risks involved.
The third front in this destructive fight was the press. Increasing numbers of
newspapers and magazines refused to publish our advertisements. Once we were
prevented from publishing ads in any German newspaper or magazine, we were
deprived of our most efficient means of advertisement...
The fourth front stabbing us in the back was our former suppliers and
contractors. They increasingly refused to deliver to us.
At the same time, all authorities and party offices—such as the “Trustees of
Labor”, the Labor Front, the Gestapo and the customs agencies—created a fifth front
against us with summons, house searches and inspections, all with the purpose of
shattering our position. In addition to them were the state and local tax agencies....
In 1938, like vultures surrounding someone condemned to death, a great
number of mediators and negotiators suddenly appeared on the scene. Based on
experience they had gained in conducting successful Aryanizations, they came up with
advice and disguised threats....
Walther Kühl, owner of the Max Kühl retail business, soon proved to be the
most serious bidder.... Mr. Kühl, naturally, like all Aryan buyers of Jewish
enterprises, got a much lower purchase price than he would have gotten under
normal circumstances. He was nevertheless convinced that he had saved us by buying
our firm...
Party members and “economic trustees” had to be involved in the
negotiations on behalf of both sides. “I am only responsible for the legal side and not
for the coercion”, Geheimrat Albert remarked with regret.
By that time, all institutions—it is hard to imagine how many were involved—
were already so much in their [the party people’s] hands, that one could not act
without the well-endowed “brown” mediators.
Finally, state secretary Brinkmann, responsible for such matters in the Reich’s
Economic Ministry, demanded a sum of 200,000 RM for the official “approval of the
Aryanization”. The sum was raised by us and Kühl.
A commercial publication to our customers in October 1938 already carried
the sentence “Grünfeld, now under German ownership”. Source: Annegret Ehmann et al., Juden In Berlin, Berlin 1988, pp. 289-291.
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D i s c u s s i o n Q u e s t i o n f o r P o s t e r N u m b e r 1 0
What do you think Fritz Grünfeld’s testimony (see booklet) adds to the picture?
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Pos te r Number 11 : Emig ra t ion
Emigration
The Nazis’ rise to power and the brutality of the SA thugs led to the panic-stricken
departure of thousands of Jews to the countries bordering on Germany, where they
waited to see what would happen. 1934 was a year of relative calm in the Nazi state’s
antisemitic policies, and some Jewish refugees, who lived in difficult circumstances in
the neighboring countries, decided to return to Germany. Up until 1936, Palestine was
the primary destination for emigrating German Jews. Beginning in 1936, however,
Jews began to seek other overseas destinations. Jewish organizations came to the
assistance of the immigrants after they had accepted the need for emigration. In 1938,
the problem of Jewish emigration became acute. The annexation of Austria to the
Reich added tens of thousands of Jews to the number of those emigrating. At the same
time, the potential destinations made it increasingly difficult to obtain visas. By the
end of 1938, approximately 170,000 Jews had emigrated from the Reich – between
33% to 40% of the Jews who had been living there prior to the Nazis rise to power.
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Jewish emigration from the Greater Reich (Including Austria and Czechoslovakia)
Europe Number of immigrants Total
Great Britain 40,000
France 30,000
The Netherlands 20,000
Belgium 15,000
Switzerland 8,000
Scandinavia 5,000
Poland and other
Eastern European Countries 30,000
Other countries 5,000 153,000
Overseas Destinations
United States 60,000
Palestine 55,000
South America 30,000
Central America 5,000
South Africa 4,500
Australia 4,5000
Other Countries 5,000
Asia (mostly Shanghai) 12,000 176,000
Total: 329,000
Doron Niederland, German Jews – Emigrants or Refugees? A Study of Emigration Patterns Between
the World Wars (Hebrew) Jerusalem, Magnes Press, 1996, p. 240.
R e a d i n g f o r P o s t e r N u m b e r 1 1 :
From the Memoirs of Martha Appel (nèe Insel)
“The hardest task I had to do was to arrange for the transportation of children to
foreign countries: the United States of America, Palestine, England, and Italy. It was
most heartbreaking to see them separate from their parents. Yet the parents
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themselves came to beg and urge us to send their children away as soon as possible,
since they could no longer stand to see them suffer from hatred and abuse. The
unselfish love of the parents was so great that they were willing to deprive themselves
of their most precious possessions so that their children might live in peace and
freedom. […]
I was standing on the platform again, and as the slowly moving train passed by me, I
noticed how quiet the children had become. The beaming light had faded from most of
the young faces as they looked for a last time upon their dear ones. I saw many little
girls who had been laughing before now stretching out their hands for a last
handshake with their mothers and father’s, while the tears were running down their
cheeks, and I saw many a boy’s face distorted into a twisted smiling one. “We will be
brave” and “Sholem Aleichem”, the Jewish greeting, was sounded through the vast
hall, while hundreds of Jewish children left their German fatherland.” Monika Richarz (ed.) Jewish Life in Germany – memoirs from three centuries. Trans. By Stella P.
Rosenfeld & Sidney Rosenfeld. Indiana University Press, 1991 pp. 359-360.
D i s c u s s i o n Q u e s t i o n f o r P o s t e r N u m b e r 1 1
What problems faced German Jews who considered emigration? (note also poster 13).
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Pos ter Number 12 : Anschluss
Anschluss – Maach 12 1938
On March 11 1938, Hitler sent his army into Austria. On March 13, the annexation of
Austria to the German Reich was declared. Most Austrian citizens welcomed the
Anschluss with an enthusiasm that was accompanied by widespread and violent
antisemitic outbursts. The policy of dispossessing the Jews of Austria packed into a
few months a process that had taken five and half years in the “Old Reich”
(Germany). Jews were dismissed from their positions in theaters, public libraries,
universities and colleges. Synagogues were desecrated, Jews were arrested and held
until they would sign documents forfeiting their property, and an unbridled policy of
Aryanization was forced onto large businesses. Within a short time after the
Anschluss, the Central Office for Jewish Emigration, headed by Adolf Eichmann, was
established in Vienna. Its goal was to promote the Jewish exodus from Austria, if
necessary, by brutal means. The policy of forced emigration met with great success.
By the time war broke out, some 126,000 of Austria’s 200,000 Jews had emigrated.
R e a d i n g f o r P o s t e r N u m b e r 1 2
From the testimony of Ezra Perry (formerly Erich Professorski), born in Vienna in
1925. His father, a shoemaker, had been a soldier in the Russian army, and defected
during the First World War.
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“At school, I was placed in the back row because I was a Jew. On the street, people
did not know I was a Jew, but my father was stopped on the street and made to clean
it with a tooth brush. They were humiliated in the street along with the religious Jews,
while the residents stood by and laughed. Father continued to work at home. At first,
the Christian customers continued to come, but later, SA men prevented them from
bringing in shoes for repair. There were some people who continued to come in
through the back door. The neighbors were quite decent, they said “our Jews are
alright”. We tried to leave for any possible destination – Colombia, Panama,
Ethiopia. People with money could buy visas. I was active in Hashomer ha-Tza’ir [a
Zionist youth movement]. Some in the movement thought about Palestine, but didn’t
have any real intention of immigrating there. My father refused to consider Palestine.
Only after the Nazis came in did we start to think of going to any possible
destination.” Video-recorded interview, Yad Vashem Archives, VD 405.
D i s c u s s i o n Q u e s t i o n f o r P o s t e r N u m b e r 1 2
What do you think characterized the fate of Austrian Jewry after the Anschluss in
1938?
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Pos te r Number 13 : The Wor ld ’s R esponse –
the Ev ian Con ference
Whither ?
In July 1938, at the initiative of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, an international
conference on refugees convened in Evian, France. The conference had supposedly
been convened to discuss the general problem of refugees, although at this stage the
majority of refugees were Jews. The conference proved useless with regard to solving
the refugee crisis – i.e. in terms of finding destinations for the refugees. The
Dominican Republic was the only country willing to accept a large number of
refugees, on the condition that the Jewish organizations raise the funds necessary for
their absorption in the country. The failure of the conference aggravate the Jews’
plight and intensified the Jewish refugee problem as a world problem. The
conference’s only practical result was the establishment of an Intergovernmental
Committee headed by George Rublee.
R e a d i n g s f o r P o s t e r n u m b e r 1 3
A. “Two weeks after the Anschluss, in its meeting of March 28, 1938, the Swiss
Federal Council (the country’s executive branch) decided: “In view of the measures
already taken and being prepared by other countries against the influx of Austrian
refugees, we find ourselves in a difficult situation. It is clear that Switzerland can only
be a transit country for the refugees from Germany and from Austria. Apart from the
situation of our labor market, the present excessive degree of foreign presence
imposes the strictest defense measures against a longer stay of such elements. If we
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do not want to create a basis for an anti-Semitism movement that would be unworthy
of our country, we must defend ourselves with all our strength and, if need be, with
ruthlessness against the immigration of foreign Jews, mostly those from the East. We
have to think of the future and therefore we cannot allow ourselves to let in such
foreigners for the sake of immediate advantages” Saul Friedländer Nazi Germany and the Jews – the years of persecution 1933-1939. New York, 1997
pp. 263-264.
B. The expulsion of Jews from the Sudetenland was described by Hermann Göring in
ironic terms:
“During the night [following the entry of the German troops into the Sudetenland],
the Jews were expelled to Czecho-Slovakia. In the morning, the Czechs got hold of
them and sent them to Hungary. From Hungary back to Germany, then back to
Czecho-Slovakia. Thus, they turned round and round. Finally, they ended up on a
riverboat on the Danube. There they camped. As soon as they set foot on the river
bank they were pushed back”.
Saul Friedländer Nazi Germany and the Jews – the years of persecution 1933-1939. New York, 1997
pp. 265-266.
D i s c u s s i o n Q u e s t i o n s f o r P o s t e r N u m b e r 1 3
1) What implications did the words of the delegates to the Evian Conference have for
the fate of the girl in the picture and for the fate of the Jews of Germany and
Austria in 1938?
2) Why did the question “whither?” become so relevant for Jews at the time?
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Pos te r Number 14 : Depor ta t ion to Zbaszy n
Deportation to Zbaszyn
Zbaszyn is a small Polish town near Poland’s border with Germany. In 1938, a camp
was established there for Jews holding Polish citizenship who had been deported from
Germany. The immediate reason for their deportation by the Germans was a decree by
the Polish Interior Ministry, according to which all Polish citizens who had been
residing outside of Poland for over five years would automatically lose their
citizenship if they did not return to Poland within two weeks. The German
government, concerned that thousands of Polish Jews would remain in Germany for
lack of any other place to go, reacted with an immediate order of deportation.
The deportations took place throughout Germany. The deportees were allowed
to take only ten marks per person. They were forbidden to take any valuables and
were not given the chance to put their affairs in order. The majority were deported by
train, but large groups were deported by foot and were beaten and forced to cross the
Polish frontier. The deportees were lodged in barracks and flour mills and endured
inhuman conditions. Among the Zbaszyn deportees was the Grynszpan family from
Hanover. In an effort to take revenge for his family’s plight, their son, Herschel
Grynszpan, shot a German diplomat in Paris. This assassination served as the pretext
for the Kristallnacht pogrom. Most of the deportees were re-absorbed in Poland after
an extended stay in the camp.
But the Story Didn't End that Way...
40
R e a d i n g f o r P o s t e r N u m b e r 1 4
Emmanuel Ringelblum’s notes on the refugees in Zbaszyn
Srodborow, December 6, 1938
Dear Raphael,
I am on holiday in Srodborow. I worked in Zbaszyn for five weeks. Apart from
Ginzberg, I am among the few who managed to hold out there for a long time. Almost
all the others broke down after a more or less short time. I have neither the strength
nor the patience to describe for you everything that happened in Zbaszyn. Anyway, I
think there has never been so ferocious, so pitiless a deportation of any Jewish
Community as this German deportation. I saw one woman who was taken from her
home in Germany while she was still in her pajamas (this woman is now half-
demented). I saw a woman of over 50 who was taken from her house paralyzed;
afterwards she was carried all the way to the border in an armchair by young Jewish
men. (She is in hospital until this day). I saw a man suffering from sleeping sickness
who was carried across the border on a stretcher, a cruelty not to be matched in all
history.
In the course of those five weeks we (originally Giterman, Ginzberg and I, and after
ten days I and Ginzberg, that is), set up a whole township with departments for
supplies, hospitalization, carpentry workshops, tailors, shoemakers, books, a legal
section, a migration department and an independent post office (with 53 employees),
a welfare office, a court of arbitration, an organizing committee, open and secret
control services, a cleaning service, and a complex sanitation service, etc. In addition
to 10-15 people from Poland, almost 500 refugees from Germany are employed in the
sections I listed above. The most important thing is that is not a situation where some
give and some receive. The refugees look on us as brothers who have hurried to help
them at a time of distress and tragedy. Almost all the responsible jobs are carried out
by refugees. The warmest and most friendly relations exist between us and the
refugees. It is not the mouldering spirit of philanthropy, which so easily have
But the Story Didn't End that Way...
41
infiltrated into the work. For that reason all those in need of our aid enjoy receiving
it. Nobody’s human feelings are hurt. Every complain of bad treatment is
investigated, and more than on “philanthropist” has been sent away from here.
We have begun on cultural activities. The first thing we introduced was the speaking
of Yiddish. It has become quite the fashion in the camp. We have organized classes in
Polish, attended by about 200 persons, and other classes. There are several reading
rooms, a library; the religious groups have set up a Talmud Torah [religious school].
There are concerts, and a choir is active.
…Zbaszyn has become a symbol for the defencelessness of the Jews of Poland. Jews
were humiliated to the level of lepers, to citizens of the third class, and as a result we
are all visited by terrible tragedy. Zbaszyn was a heavy moral blow against the
Jewish population of Poland. And it is for this reason that all the threads lead from
the Jewish masses to Zbaszyn and to the Jews who suffer there…
Please accept my warmest good wishes and kisses from
Emmanuel
Documents on the Holocaust - Selected sources on the destruction of the Jews of Germany and
Austria, Poland, and the Soviet Union. Edited by Yitzhak Arad, Yisrael Gutman, Abraham Margaliot.
Jerusalem, Yad Vashem, 1981 pp. 123-124.
D i s c u s s i o n Q u e s t i o n f o r P o s t e r N u m b e r 1 4
What power, in your opinion, does Dr. Emmanuel Ringelblum’s pen have, and what
does it add to the picture in describing the suffering and humiliation of the Jews
deported to Zbaszyn?
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42
Pos ter s 15-18 : K r i s ta l lnacht
“Kristallnacht” is the name given to the pogrom that took place throughout Germany
and Austria on the night of November 9-10 1938. The pogrom was officially
described as a spontaneous outburst in response to the assassination of the third
secretary of the German Embassy in Paris, Ernst Vom Rath. The assassin was a young
seventeen year old Jew by the name of Herschl Grynszpan, whose parents were
among the Jews deported to Zbaszyn. However, the assassination was only a pretext
for the pogrom, which was in fact instigated by Propaganda Minister Joseph
Goebbeles, with Hitler’s consent. Approximately 1,000 synagogues throughout the
Reich were set to flames or utterly destroyed during the pogrom; over 800 Jewish
shops were burned and looted; and hundreds of homes were damaged or destroyed.
The broken glass of the synagogue and Jewish store windows gave the pogrom its
name – Kristallnacht, or “night of the broken glass”. 91 Jews were murdered during
the pogrom, and approximately 30,000 were arrested and sent to concentration camps
simply because they were Jews. After the pogrom, the Jews were fined a random fine
of one billion Marks, and they were forced to pay for the repairs to the damaged
property.
R e a d i n g f o r P o s t e r s 1 5 - 1 6
November Pogrom - Kristallnacht
1. Hans Berger of Wiesbaden tells of his memories of Kristallnacht:
“When on the morning of the 10th of November I was driving my car to work, as I did
every day, my route took me past the synagogue, whose dome was ablaze. Fear went
But the Story Didn't End that Way...
43
right through me. A big crowd of people stood around it silently and the fire
department was content with protecting the surrounding houses from catching fire.
My way took me to the Jewish school, where I got out to check on my children. There
they still did not know about the burning House of Worship, and only in the factory
did I hear through telephone reports that all Jewish businesses in the city were
completely demolished. The wares were thrown onto the street and set on fire, and all
this happened at the hands of only a few juveniles who had been appointed by the
party for this purpose.”
When me met up with Maas, we learned that in Frankfurt and Mainz, too, the
synagogues had been set on fire, Jewish businesses demolished, Jewish men even
arrested on the street, and that already quite a number of Jewish private residences
had been destroyed in the most bestial way. We deliberated on how to save what
perhaps could still be saved, and came to the decision that I was to return to the
factory while Maas, who in contrast to me had a valid passport, should try to get
across the border.” Monika Richarz (ed.) Jewish Life in Germany – memoirs from three centuries. Trans. By Stella P.
Rosenfeld & Sidney Rosenfeld. Indiana University Press, 1991 pp. 386-387.
2. From the protocol of 10 November 1938 taken in the court of Buchen in the
matter of the killing of Susanne Stern, a widow, aged 81: the testimony of Adolf
Heinrich Frey, of the SA, who shot her:
I knocked on the door…I demanded that Stern get dressed…She sat down on the
…sofa. When I asked her whether she did not intend to follow my instructions and get
dressed, she answered she would not get dressed or come with us. We can do
whatever we want…. ‘I am not leaving my house. I am an old lady’…. I took my
service revolver out of my pocket…I called on the woman another 5 or 6 times to get
up and dress. Stern loudly screamed into my face with scorn and insolence: ‘I will not
get up and I will not get dressed. You can do with me whatever you want.’ At the
moment she screamed ‘do with me whatever you want’, I released the safety of the
pistol and shot her once…Stern collapsed on the sofa. She leaned back and grabbed
her chest with her hands. I now shot her for the second time, this time aiming at her
head.
Paul Sauer Dokumente über die Verfolgung der jüdischen Bürger in Baden-Württemberg, Vol. 2
Stuttgart 1966, pp. 26-27.
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44
R e a d i n g f o r P o s t e r s 1 7
The November Pogrom in Vienna
“And I remember that on the evening of the 9th of November 1938 we were afraid to
go out. I, in any case, a boy of ten and a half years old, went outside and I saw them
taking the Torah scrolls out of the synagogue, and how they had their horses trample
them and defecate on them. The crowd that had gathered participated in the book
burning. There was an atmosphere of fear; I ran home and did not go out any more….
The police arrived and arrested Jews – I do not know whether they had lists or not. A
number of members of my family were taken; among them were my uncle and cousin,
who were later sent to Dachau. They were released nine months later, with a
commitment that they would emigrate from Austria, i.e. that they would leave
Germany.” Interview with Mr. Joseph Linser of Vienna, Yad Vashem Archive, 03/8966
But the Story Didn't End that Way...
45
R e a d i n g f o r P o s t e r s 1 8
But the Story Didnwt End that Way…
Hans Berger of Wiesbaden tells of his memories of Kristallnacht:
“At about six o’clock on Sunday morning the train stopped at the station in Weimar,
Goethe’s city, which for all times will remain most horribly linked in my memory with
the following scene in the tunnel between the platforms. We had to get off the train by
compartments, and had to run, on the double, accompanied by blows with steel rods
and pokes by rifles butts, along the platform, down the stairs, into the tunnel. Woe
unto him who tripped or fell down the stairs. The very least was that the ones coming
after him had to trample over him, or also fell down and were brought back onto their
feet by renewed blows and jabs. In the tunnel itself we had to place ouselves in lines
of ten, one behind the other, the first person with his face directly against the wall,
and the gendarmes saw to it that we stood crammed together like herrings. The poor
people who stood last in the line had to suffer blows and pokes, the effect of which
was that the lines pressed closer and closer together. I was standing in the middle; in
the end it was hardly possible to breathe. On top of it, whips whistled above our bare
heads and the most obscene bellowing and most vile phrases that anyone can imagine
poured forth onto the desperate crowd of packed in Jews. This lasted two hours. Then,
by rows and once again on the double, we had to run further through the tunnel, up
the steps, and climb onto waiting trucks, which were equipped with seats, constantly
under blows from whips and stricks that were part of all this. In the cars we were
told: “Put on your hats and lower your heads!” Woe unto him who did not duck low
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46
enugh. A blow to his head with the whip or a stick was the least he could expect. Off
we went at terrible speed through the forest. After approximately a ten minute drive
the car stopped. Once again on the double, we got out and ran through a gate into a
big yard, in which thousands of fellow sufferers were stnding lined up in rows of ten.
We were in the Buchenwald concentration camp.” Monika Richarz (ed.) Jewish Life in Germany – memoirs from three centuries. Trans. By Stella P.
Rosenfeld & Sidney Rosenfeld. Indiana University Press, 1991 pp. 390-391.
D i s c u s s i o n Q u e s t i o n s f o r p o s t e r s 1 5 , 1 6 , 1 7 , 1 8
In your opinion, which of the posters best expresses the Kristallnacht pogrom? In
what ways does it do this?
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47
A Visit to the Exhibition:
“And the Story Did Not End There…”
Educat iona l Act iv i ty
G o a l s : 1. to understand the events of Kristallnacht as a significant part of the history of the
Holocaust.
2. To understand the power pictures have to tell stories.
T a r g e t g r o u p :
Middle school pupils, high school students and youth in informal educational
frameworks.
A i d s a n d t o o l s :
Posters from the exhibition, background materials, sources and discussion questions
for each poster.
But the Story Didn't End that Way...
48
The Act iv i ty
O p e n i n g :
The teacher / counselor may open with a bit of background on the events of
Kristallnacht, based on the materials and bibliographic references provided in the
booklet.
T e a m w o r k :
1. The group is divided into five teams of 6-8 participants each.
2. Each team will receive a number of posters and source materials, and will divide
up the task of reading the sources, focusing on one of the following issues:
♦ German Jewry in the Weimar Republic
♦ Nazi policy
♦ German Jewry’s reaction to Nazi policy
♦ The events of Kristallnacht
3. After completing the reading task, the members of each team will share their
feelings with the other members. They will state which picture most impressed
them (which angered them, which surprised them, which outraged them, which
caused empathy). The team will choose a poster to be presented in full.
4. A discussion will take place within the team on the central question pertaining to
the issue they addressed.
But the Story Didn't End that Way...
49
Task fo r Team 1
S u b j e c t :
The Jews of Germany in the Weimar Republic
Posters 1, 2, 3.
A. The team will divide the sources amongst the members and address the following
questions:
F o r p o s t e r s 1 , 2 :
1) “I am a German and a Jew in equal measure – one cannot be separated from the
other” (Jakob Wassermann, writer, 1921). In your opinion, do the photographs
and source readings in the booklet reflect the author’s statement?
2) Point to expressions which characterize the cultural world of German Jewry in the
description of the wedding in the liberal synagogue.
F o r P o s t e r 3 :
1) What messages does the poster convey?
2) What graphic elements did the caricaturist use?
3) What messages are added by the quotation of Hitler’s words on the ideology
of the antisemitic party?
B. After looking at the posters, reading the sources and addressing the above
questions, the team members will tell each other which picture most impressed
them (which angered them, which surprised them, which outraged them, which
caused empathy). They will choose a poster which represents the situation of
German Jewry during the Weimar Republic to report to the full group.
C. The team will discuss the following topic:
The ways in which Jews were integrated into German society during the
Weimar period, and the antisemitic response to that integration.
A representative of the team will report to the group on their discussion.
But the Story Didn't End that Way...
50
Task fo r Team 2
S u b j e c t : Nazi Policy
Posters 4, 5, 6, 7.
A. The team will divide the sources amongst the members and address the following
questions:
F o r P o s t e r 4 :
1) What, in your opinion, is the atmosphere created by the Nazis’ parades and flags
throughout Germany?
2) How do you think the Nazi parades effected average German citizens? Explain.
F o r P o s t e r 5 :
1) to what end do you suppose the picture was taken?
2) How do you think the people in the photograph relate to the sign being held by
the boy? Explain.
F o r P o s t e r 6 :
1) What did the Germans hope to accomplish by humiliating a German woman?
2) What are Edwin Landau’s feelings on the day the boycott was declared against
the Jews?
F o r P o s t e r 7 :
1) What sub-title would you give the poster?
2) Who in your opinion ought to feel ashamed in the picture?
B. After looking at the posters, reading the sources and addressing the above
questions, the team members will tell each other which picture most impressed
them (which angered them, which surprised them, which outraged them, which
caused empathy). They will choose a poster which represents the situation of
German Jewry during the Weimar Republic to report to the full group.
But the Story Didn't End that Way...
51
C. The team will discuss the following topic:
What expressions characterize Nazi policy?
A representative of the team will report to the group on their discussion.
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52
Task fo r Team 3
S u b j e c t :
Nazi Policy in 1938
Posters 10, 12, 14.
A. The team will divide the sources amongst the members and address the following
questions:
F o r P o s t e r 1 0 :
What do you think Fritz Grünfeld’s testimony (see booklet) adds to the picture?
F o r P o s t e r 1 2 :
What do you think characterized the fate of Austrian Jewry after the Anschluss in
1938?
F o r P o s t e r 1 4 :
What power, in your opinion, does Dr. Emmanuel Ringelblum’s pen have, and what
does it add to the picture in describing the suffering and humiliation of the Jews
deported to Zbaszyn?
B. After looking at the posters, reading the sources and addressing the above
questions, the team members will tell each other which picture most impressed
them (which angered them, which surprised them, which outraged them, which
caused empathy). They will choose a poster which represents Nazi Policy in 1938
to report to the full group.
C. The team will discuss the following topic:
What characterizes Nazi policy in 1938?
A representative of the team will report to the group on their discussion.
But the Story Didn't End that Way...
53
Task fo r Team 4 S u b j e c t :
The Jewish Response to Nazi Policy
Posters 8, 9, 11, 13
A. The team will divide the sources amongst the members and address the following
questions:
F o r P o s t e r s 8 - 9
1) What meanings do you think Jewish holidays – and Hanukah in particular – were
given at a time when German Jews were being persecuted under the Nazi regime?
2) What does this say about German Jews’ concepts of Jewish identity during this
period?
F o r P o s t e r 1 1 :
What problems faced German Jews who considered emigration? (note also poster 13).
F o r P o s t e r 1 3 :
3) What implications did the words of the delegates to the Evian Conference have for
the fate of the girl in the picture and for the fate of the Jews of Germany and
Austria in 1938?
4) Why did the question “whither?” become so relevant for Jews at the time?
B. After looking at the posters, reading the sources and addressing the above
questions, the team members will tell each other which picture most impressed
them (which angered them, which surprised them, which outraged them, which
caused empathy). They will choose a poster which represents the Jewish response
to Nazi policy to report to the full group.
But the Story Didn't End that Way...
54
C. The team will discuss the following topic:
How did German Jews react to Nazi policy? In what ways did their reactions
solve their problems?
A representative of the team will report to the group on their discussion.
But the Story Didn't End that Way...
55
Task fo r Team 5 S u b j e c t :
The Events of Kristallnacht
Posters 15, 16, 17, 18
A. The team will divide the sources amongst the members and address the following
questions:
F o r P o s t e r s 1 5 - 1 6 - 1 7 - 1 8 :
In your opinion, which of the posters best expresses the Kristallnacht pogrom? In
what ways does it do this?
B. After looking at the posters, reading the sources and addressing the above
questions, the team members will tell each other which picture most impressed them
(which angered them, which surprised them, which outraged them, which caused
empathy). They will choose a poster which represents Nazi Policy in 1938 to report to
the full group.
C. The team will discuss the following topic:
What was shattered for the Jews of Germany on Kristallnacht?
A representative of the team will report to the group on their discussion.
But the Story Didn't End that Way...
56
The Fu l l Group A. The posters will be hung on the walls in numerical order, as an exhibition. All of
the participants will have a chance to visit the full exhibition and think about the
connection between the unit they worked on and the rest of the posters.
B. Reports:
Team members will present their feelings and thoughts to the group regarding the
subject their team discussed. Reports should focus on the following two points:
1. The picture that best represents “their” subject.
2. The central question they discussed.
C. Summary Questions:
1) The Kristallnacht pogrom has become a meaningful symbol in the history of the
Holocaust. What do you think has caused this?
2) The title of this exhibition is “And the Story Did Not End There…” What does
this title mean to you? Explain.
3) This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Kristallnacht events. What is the
meaning of these events for us and for the world today?
But the Story Didn't End that Way...
57
Sugges ted Fur ther Act iv i t ies 1. Preparation of a memorial site or a memorial booklet to mark the 60th anniversary
of the Kristallnacht pogrom.
2. Preparation of an archive news report for a local radio station to mark the 60th
anniversary of the Kristallnacht pogrom.
In schools and organizations where students can make use of technological aids,
such as video recorders and computers:
3. Preparation of an web site to mark the 60th anniversary of the Kristallnacht
pogrom.
4. Preparation of a television report to mark the 60th anniversary of the Kristallnacht
pogrom. The story can be 3-5 minutes long and is to be planned as part of a news
broadcast. The students should use the exhibition posters, the source readings and
the video tape that includes testimonies of people who experienced Kristallnacht.
But the Story Didn't End that Way...
58
Recommended Reading
ADAM, Uwe Dietrich
“How Spontaneous was the Pogrom?” in: Walter E. Pehle November 1938 – From
Reichskristallnacht to Genocide. Great Britain. Berg Publishers, 1991
BARKAI, Avraham
“The Fateful Year 1938: The Continuation and Acceration of Plunder” in: Walter E.
Pehle November 1938 – From Reichskristallnacht to Genocide. Great Britain. Berg
Publishers, 1991
FRIDLÄNDER, Saul
Nazi Germany and the Jews. New York. Harper Collins, 1997
GRÜNFELD, Frederic
Prophets Without Honor. New York. Kodanska International, 1996
KAPLAN, Marion
Between Dignity and Despair – Jewish Life in Nazi Germany. New York. Oxford.
1998
KERSHAW, Ian
“The persecution of the Jews and German Popular Opinion in the Third Reich” in Leo
Baeck Year Book 26, 1981
RICHARZ, Monika ed.
Jewish Life in Germany: Memoirs from Three Centuries. Bloomington: Indiana
University Press 1991
RICHTER, Hans Peter
Friedrich. New York. Rinehart & Winston 1970
But the Story Didn't End that Way...
59
SCHOLEM, Gershon
From Berlin to Jerusalem. New York, Schoken Books, 1988
SINGER, Israel Joshua
The family Carnovsky. New York, Vanguard Press, 1969
ZWEIG, Stefan The World of Yesterday. London. Cassel 19
Chronolog ica l Tab le o f Events 1933-1938
I n t e r n a t i o n a l E ve n t s a n d E ve n t s
i n t h e Th i r d R e i ch The Wa r Aga i ns t t he Je ws Je w i sh Ac t i v i t i e s
1933
January 30, Adolf Hitler appointed Reichskanzler
(German Chancellor)
January 30, Jüdische Jugendhilfe established in Berlin
February 27, burning of the Reichstag; wave of arrests
and Nazi terror in Germany
March: First concentration camp established in
Germany: Dachau
March 9-10: Beginning of a wave of riots against
German Jews by the S.A. and Stahlhelm
March 27: Mass demonstration in New York organized
by the American Jewish Congress to protest Nazi terror
in Germany
April 1: Boycott against German Jewry April 4: The German Jewish newspaper Jüdische
Rundschau carries the article by Robert Weltsch “Wear
it with Pride, the Yellow Badge”, the first in a series
“To say ‘Yes’ to our Jewishness”; these headings
become the slogans of the resistance of German Jewry
April 7: Law prohibiting Jews from working in
government offices.
April 26: establishment of the Gestapo April 21: Law prohibiting Jewish ritual slaughter April 26: Decision by the Va’ad Le’umi (National
Committee of the Jews of Palestine) to establish a
project for the absorption of immigrants from Germany
I n t e r n a t i o n a l E ve n t s a n d E ve n t s
i n t h e Th i r d R e i ch The Wa r Aga i ns t t he Je ws Je w i sh Ac t i v i t i e s
May 10: Public burning of Jewish books and works by
opponents of Nazism in German towns
Mid-May: Representatives of the Comité des
Délégations Juives submit a protest to the League of
Nations about anti-Jewish discrimination in Germany
(the petition of Franz Bernheim)
Mass demonstrations by the Jews of Paris to protest
against the anti-Jewish campaign in Germany
May: the Establishment of the Jüdischer Kulturbund in
Berlin
June 11: Conference of Jewish organizations of Silesia
discusses means of safeguarding the rights of German
Jews
June 27: Mass anti-Nazi protest rally by London Jews
July 14: Law prohibiting political parties in Germany;
Nazi Party now sole legal party in Germany
August 20: American Jewish Congress declares boycott
against Nazi Germany
September 8: Second World Jewish Conference in
Geneva resolves to organize an anti-German boycott
movement throughout the world
September 17: Establishment of the Reichsvertretung
der deutschen Juden (Reich Representation of Jews in
Germany)
October 14: Germany leaves disarmament talks at October 17: Law prohibiting Jews from working as October: Establishment of “liaison office” for aid to
I n t e r n a t i o n a l E ve n t s a n d E ve n t s
i n t h e Th i r d R e i ch The Wa r Aga i ns t t he Je ws Je w i sh Ac t i v i t i e s
League of Nations journalists German Jews by Jewish organizations in the U.S. and
France
October 19: Germany leaves the League of Nations
November 27: “Transfer company established in Tel
Aviv to facilitate the immigration of Jews from
Germany through special arrangements for the transfer
of their property
1934
January 26: Germany and Poland sign a non-
belligerency pact
February: First group of young Jewish refugees from
Germany arrive at Kibbutz Ein Harod
April 1: Heinrich Himmler appointed head of the S.S. April: Establishment of the Radical Nationalist
Organization (O.N.R.) in Poland, an extreme
antisemitic organization
June 30- July 2: “Night of the Long Knives”: purge of
the S.A. and those opposed to Hitler’s policies; Röhm
and his colleagues murdered
July 25: Attempted coup by Nazis in Austria, murder of
Dollfuss, Austrian prime minister
August 2: Death of von Hindenburg, president of
I n t e r n a t i o n a l E ve n t s a n d E ve n t s
i n t h e Th i r d R e i ch The Wa r Aga i ns t t he Je ws Je w i sh Ac t i v i t i e s
Germany; Hitler assumes the responsibilities of head of
state
1935
January 7: French-Italian agreement signed by
Mussolini and Laval in Rome
January 13: Saar region annexed to Germany
March 16: Renewal of conscription in Germany in
violation of the Versailles Treaty
May 31: German Jews prohibited from serving in the
Armed forces
June: Wave of anti-Jewish riots in Poland
September 15: Nuremberg Laws – enactment of basic
anti-Jewish racial laws
October 3: Italy attacks Ethiopia
December: Anti-Jewish riots in Polish universities;
Jewish students restricted to special seats
March 7: German Army enters Rhineland March 3: Jewish doctors prohibited from practicing in
public health institutions in Germany
1936
February 4: David Frankfurter assassinates Wilhelm
I n t e r n a t i o n a l E ve n t s a n d E ve n t s
i n t h e Th i r d R e i ch The Wa r Aga i ns t t he Je ws Je w i sh Ac t i v i t i e s
Gustloff, leader of the Nazi Party in Switzerland in
protest against the persecution of Jews in Germany
March 9: Riots in Przytyk, Poland
March 17: Mass demonstrations of Jews and left-wing
and liberal Poles protesting the anti-Jewish riots in
Poland
May 2: Addis Ababa conquered by Italian Army
May 5: Ethiopia surrenders
June 17: Himmler appointed Chief of German Police June 30: General strike by Polish Jews in protest against
antisemitism
June 16: Outbreak of Spanish Civil War
July 26: Beginning of German and Italian military
involvement in Spain
October 25: German-Italian pact; establishment of
Berlin-Rome Axis
1937
January 26: Law prohibiting German Jews from
working in any office
February 16-22: Herman Göring visits Poland; relations
between Poland and Nazi Germany strengthened
March 15: Mass anti-Nazi rally by Joint Boycott
I n t e r n a t i o n a l E ve n t s a n d E ve n t s
i n t h e Th i r d R e i ch The Wa r Aga i ns t t he Je ws Je w i sh Ac t i v i t i e s
Council in New York
July 7: Japan attacks China
July 16: Buchenwald concentration camp established
October: Beginning of “aryanization” of Jewish
property in Germany
November 25: Political and military pact signed by
Germany and Japan
1938
January 21: Minority rights abrogated by Rumania;
revocation of the citizenship of many Jews
March 13: Annexation of Austria to the Third Reich
April 26: Directives regarding confiscation of the
property of German Jews
July 5: Evian Conference on German refugees
May 29: First law restricting the rights of Jews adopted
in Hungary
August 1: Establishment of office for Jewish emigration
headed by Adolf Eichmann
August 17: Jews ordered to add “Israel” or “Sara” to
their names
I n t e r n a t i o n a l E ve n t s a n d E ve n t s
i n t h e Th i r d R e i ch The Wa r Aga i ns t t he Je ws Je w i sh Ac t i v i t i e s
September 29-30: Munich Conference, with the
participation of Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler and
Mussolini; England and France agree to the annexation
of part of Czechoslovakia to Germany
October 1: Annexation of the Sudetenland to Germany October 5: Revocation Of Passports Of German Jews
October 28: More than 17,000 Jews of Polish
nationality expelled from Germany to Zbaszyn on the
Polish border
November 9-10: Kristallnacht riots in Germany and
Austria; about 30,000 Jews arrested, 1,000 synagogues
destroyed and 7,500 stores looted
November 6: Herschel Grynszpan Assassinates Ernst
Vom Rath, Secretary Of German embassy in France
November 15: Jewish children prohibited from
attending German schools
November: American Joint Distribution Committee aids
refugees in Zbaszyn, Poland
December 3: Directives concerning the ousting of Jews
from German economic life
December: Organization for illegal immigration
established in Palestine
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