THE NIGHT OF BROKEN GLASS AND THE HOLOCAUST

In the early 1920s, the idea of Jewish co-responsibility for the crisis and economic collapse of Germany was promoted. In 1933, the NSDAP won the elections and formed a government, and the ailing President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Chancellor. In early 1933, Willi Cohn wrote: “When I woke up, the news came that Hitler had become Chancellor of the Reich. […]Hard times are coming, especially for Jews! But there is no way out – it is a mousetrap. […]The Nazi posters on the billboards are filled with the greatest historical lies. […]They even blame the SPD for the inflation. They are turning everything upside down. In one of the newspapers, it was written that the Jews are to blame for all the misfortunes. Disgusting. […]Goering gave a speech full of terrible insults against the Jews. ^[1]A direct call to murder! The emotions of the masses have been brought to a boiling point. It’s like in the Middle Ages!”

^[1]W. Cohn, Diary from Breslau 1933-1941, Wrocław 2010, pp. 24-25.

Persecution in the Third Reich began before the Nuremberg Laws were introduced. Jews were gradually prohibited from practicing many professions. In early 1933, over 6,000 Jews left Silesia, who were wealthy and had the opportunity to start a professional life elsewhere. They left their possessions behind, although some tried to sell them, but could not obtain real market prices. German society watched the actions of the state with relative indifference, rarely expressing opposition.

Walter Mehne was a well-known luthier who behaved decently and helped another person. He did not have a portrait of Hitler in his apartment, nor did he display Nazi flags. This was an act of resistance against the new regime. He did much more, as in 1938 he saved his friend Alfons and his family from a pogrom. The rescued man’s daughter, Anita Lasker-Wallfish, was a talented cellist, whom he helped again in 1943, this time in escaping from a transit camp for Silesian Jews. For this help, he was sentenced to death, which the judge commuted to compulsory service in the Wehrmacht. However, such stories were rare; much more often, German residents expressed no opposition when, for example, Jews were deprived of their civil rights. It was difficult to distinguish Jews in society, as they did not wear different clothes or use a different language on a daily basis. From then on, their identity documents were yellow, while those of Aryan citizens were brown. History repeated itself, as Jews were already being forced to wear yellow patches on their clothes in the Middle Ages.

The wave of persecution forced over 20,000 Jews to leave their Silesian homeland. By the end of 1938, they had left, and the letter J, from the German word Jude, was stamped in their passports. Those who remained were subjected to further persecution from 1939 onwards: the Kristallnacht pogroms, brutal interrogations, and finally, deportation to concentration camps.

In 1939, nearly 20,000 Jews from Lower Silesia, who had nowhere to go or lacked the money to travel, were forced to change their names. Men were given the name Israel, and women were given the name Sarah. Arrests became increasingly common, especially during and immediately after Kristallnacht. Jews were deported to concentration camps, where conditions were extremely harsh, and their stay usually ended in death. Some prisoners were saved by their German past from World War I. They belonged to the organization Jüdischer Frontsoldaten, Jewish Front Soldiers, which included veterans decorated with the Iron Cross. Sometimes, this worthless piece of iron saved lives…

The persecution of Jews in Germany influenced public opinion in Western countries. The idea of evacuating children emerged. The Erec Israel project, promoted by the Zionist movement, seemed like a good solution, but Palestine and British restrictions made the journey increasingly difficult. In November 1938, the British government decided to bring Jewish children from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and the Free City of Danzig. The Dutch government made a similar decision. One of the first transports was organized thanks to the efforts of a Dutch woman, later a member of the resistance movement and awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations, Geertruid Wijsmuller-Meijer. This remarkable woman had been trying to save persecuted Jews in Germany, especially children, since 1933. In December, thanks to British-Dutch cooperation, she went to Vienna, where she was to organize the departure of almost 600 children. She began negotiations with Adolf Eichmann, who agreed but gave little time for preparations. Geertruid Wijsmuller-Meijer rose to the challenge and did so repeatedly.

The last transport from Wrocław, carrying almost a hundred Jewish children, left the main station in the last days of July 1939, heading towards the Netherlands. From there, the children sailed by ship to Great Britain. The young passengers on the train recall that it was a journey filled with crying, interspersed with shouts, and sometimes laughter and games. The children traveled without parents or adult guardians. They were allowed to bring only one suitcase, which contained all their belongings, and a small amount of money. At the station, they received a number and a card with their details from an official, which they attached to their clothes with a pin. In 1938, Ruth Auerbach was 3 years old. Years later, she recalled the last day in the Third Reich as follows:

“My mother had a choice. ^[1]She could save me or one of my brothers. Only one of us could go to England, and she thought it would be easier to place a girl with an English family. I was lucky.”

At the time, thirteen-year-old Steve Mendelssohn was bid farewell by his entire family at home, as farewells at the station were prohibited. The boy, aware of the situation, did not want to leave, but his parents were very concerned about his safety. Most of the 10,000 rescued children experienced great trauma because, separated from their families and loved ones and placed in English (or Dutch) foster families, often without knowing the language, they felt like outsiders.

But later, other feelings emerged. Vera Posener, born in 1924 in Wrocław, felt immense joy at crossing the border of the Third Reich: “During my journey from Germany to England, the train stopped in the Netherlands. When the doors were opened, people came to help us. They brought us treats, and we started singing. Although we were young, we knew that we were free.” ^[2]The children could write to their families, but the letters often went unanswered. It was only after 1945 that they could begin searching for their loved ones. Over 90% of these children were the only survivors from their families.

^[1] https://www.exberliner.com/politics/when-german-trains-saved-jewish-kids/

^[2] https://memoirs.azrielifoundation.org/exhibits/sustaining-memories/vera-kittel/

Willy Cohn, a German hero of World War I and a member of an influential Jewish family that had lived in Wrocław for generations, seemed like a realist. During the fighting on the front lines, he observed that German soldiers of Jewish origin were treated differently and, for example, were often unable to be promoted. This discouraged him from the idea of assimilation and led him to support Zionist movements.

In the difficult post-war period for German society, Jews were blamed for the defeat. As early as 1920, anti-Semitic incidents occurred. Although these were episodic, they can be seen as a foreshadowing of future events. In 1923, ten years before the NSDAP took power in Germany, there was an attack on Jewish shops. It is worth mentioning that among the protesters, an inflationary medal depicting Korn Jude became popular, which, in reference to medals from the 17th century, accused Jews of causing the crisis and inflation in Germany.

The victory of Hitler’s party, which openly attacked Jews, did not go unnoticed. Walter Tausk and Willy Cohn mentioned this with concern in their memoirs. Lower Silesia was an area with particularly high support for the Nazis: in 1933, they won nearly 50% of the votes here, which was the third-highest result in the country. Until 1935, the persecution of the Jewish community, which was harassed, occurred sporadically. From 1934, the propaganda weekly “Der Stürmer” began publishing articles accusing Jews of crimes in various cities in Germany. The smear campaign intensified, especially after the Nuremberg Laws were issued in 1935. Deprived of citizenship, Jews lost access to many professions, and their property was subject to Aryanization: it was confiscated or sold at the lowest possible market prices. By 1938, half of the Jews in Wrocław and about ¼ of those living within the borders of Lower Silesia had left their homes.

The assassination of Ernst Eduard vom Rath, a German diplomat, in Paris became the pretext for the largest pre-World War II, mass, and coordinated persecution of Germans of Jewish origin. The assassin was a Polish Jew living in Germany, Herschel Feibel Grynszpan, who wanted to take revenge in this way for the deportation of his family in the so-called Polenaktion, organized by the German authorities. On the orders of Reinhard Heydrich, all Jews of Polish origin were expelled from Germany at that time, which in turn was a response to a law passed by the Polish Sejm, which by October 29, 1938, deprived of citizenship anyone who had lived outside Poland for more than five years.

Over 17,000 people were expelled from the Third Reich. Some of them, who did not have Polish documents, camped on the Polish-German border, separated on one side by a German cordon and on the other by Polish troops. Polish Jewish organizations and the Polish Red Cross provided assistance to the stranded people. The humanitarian crisis turned into a political crisis. In response to the German Polenaktion, the Polish side announced the deportation of German citizens. The solution to the situation turned out to be tragic, as the Jews returning to Germany ended up mainly in concentration camps.

The death of Rath, a German diplomat, was used as a pretext to launch mass persecutions on the night of November 9-10, 1938. ^[1]The events were called Kristallnacht, because they were accompanied by the sound of breaking windows of apartments and shop windows belonging to Jews. The Minister of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment, Joseph Goebbels, and Reinhard Heydrich, head of the SiPo, used paramilitary groups and regular SS units to carry out the attacks. In a few hours, several dozen people were killed, and several hundred were injured. More than 7,500 buildings were destroyed throughout Germany.

In Lower Silesia, where support for the Nazi movement was extremely strong, many buildings were destroyed and looted, including nearly 80 synagogues, several dozen cemeteries, and hundreds of homes and shops. In Wrocław, the largest synagogue in this part of Germany, located on Łąkowa Street (in Wygon), burned down and was eventually blown up. The unique synagogue in Głogów also disappeared. The campaign reached most of the cities and towns in Lower Silesia, taking on particularly drastic proportions in Wrocław, Legnica, Oleśnica, Oława, Głogów, Strzelin, and Kłodzko. The actions were aimed at the Jewish community, which was strong and integrated into the local environment in these places. Members of the community were often insulted and beaten. In Wrocław, some of them were tried to be drowned in the city moat. After the night events, nearly 2,200 Jews were arrested and deported to concentration camps.

The Night of Broken Glass was only the beginning of an escalating wave of persecution against the Jewish community. On November 10, the complete elimination of the Jewish community from economic life began, with their property being confiscated and their businesses forcibly Aryanized. In addition, Jews were ordered to pay a billion marks in reparations. The absurdity was that the victims were paying their tormentors. November 1938 became a harbinger of the further fate of the Jews of Lower Silesia, who from 1940 were systematically deported to ghettos and extermination camps in territories occupied by the Third Reich. November 1938 became a harbinger of the further fate of the Jews of Lower Silesia, who from 1940 were systematically deported to ghettos and extermination camps in territories occupied by the Third Reich.

^[1]Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo) – the German security police, also known as SiPo. It operated from the spring of 1919 during the plebiscite in Upper Silesia and became one of the organized military forces of the German side in the plebiscite area. According to secret directives from Berlin, its officers committed acts of violence against Polish activists, hindered their legal activities, and used terror and intimidation. In the years 1934-1939, the term SiPo was used to refer to the combined Gestapo and KriPo.

“Silesia is free of Jews” – ^[1]this short sentence was written in 1943 by one of the statistical officials of the SS. On June 10 of the same year, the Gestapo reported that all the plans for the liquidation of the Jewish community in Wrocław had been carried out. At that time, tens of thousands of Jews were imprisoned in concentration camps in the Lower Silesia region. Norman Davies believes that the Holocaust was “the deepest abyss in the history of crimes that people have inflicted upon people.” ^[2]Although the beginning of the persecution of the Jewish community in Germany dates back to the rule of the NSDAP, the Kristallnacht was a harbinger of the later, dramatic fate of Jews throughout Europe. On the night of November 9, 1938, over 500 buildings were destroyed and looted in Wrocław alone, and several thousand Jews were arrested. The Nuremberg Laws turned Germans of Jewish origin into stateless persons. Everyday life became increasingly difficult, as they were stigmatized, arrested, and deported to concentration camps.

Walter Tausk and Willy Cohn describe in detail the events of 1938-1942 and show how the space for freedom was disappearing for the former citizens of the German state. More and more prohibitions were introduced, as Jews were no longer allowed to drive cars, go to the hairdresser, or sit on benches in the park. Eventually, they had to choose from a few shops where they could only buy at certain times of the day. They were deprived of the right to practice most professions. The aryanization of Jewish property also progressed rapidly. In 1941, the Jewish community was required to wear a yellow Star of David on their clothing. Soon, they were also forbidden from leaving their place of residence.

In Wrocław itself, approximately ¼ of the members of the Jewish community remained in 1941. The rest managed to emigrate. However, about 6,000 people arrived from smaller towns, villages, and rural areas, seeking assistance from the still-functioning Jewish organizations. On January 20, 1942, the decision was made in Wannsee to implement the “final solution to the Jewish question.” The mass extermination was planned to be carried out by the German state. The liquidation of the Jewish community in Wrocław began in 1941 and continued until the end of 1944, when almost 9,000 people were deported in 17 transports. During the deportations, a specific bureaucratic procedure was followed. When summoned to leave their apartments, Jews were allowed to take additional luggage for a fee. A Gestapo official registered the departure and carefully checked the documents. The official stamp deprived the Jewish residents of their dignity, as the person became a passenger on a train to a camp, where death awaited them.

The transports from Wrocław ended up in several locations: Theresienstadt (over 2,800 people), the Lithuanian city of Kaunas (approx. 2,000 people), Auschwitz and Sobibór (approx. 1,400 people), and transit camps in Lower Silesia and Opole region: Tormersdorf (Prędocice), Riebnig (Rybna), Grussau (Krzeszów). Fewer than 200 people survived the war. Among them was a group that was not originally covered by the Nuremberg laws: people of mixed descent (Mischlinge), spouses of Aryans, and so-called Geltungsjude, i.e., people with “Jewish blood.” In 1945, all of them also became outsiders in the new political situation. For Polish citizens, they were Germans, although the Polish authorities granted them the status of victims.

The tombstones in the New Jewish Cemetery on Lotnicza Street bear witness to the wartime fate of the Jews of Lower Silesia. An inscription on one of the tombstones informs about the death of Martin Hadd in the Theresienstadt concentration camp and the deportation of Moritz Hadd to the East. Meanwhile, the Old Jewish Cemetery contains an impressive tomb of the Schlesinger family, which provides information about the deportation and death of Georg in the Warsaw Ghetto. 

^[1]N. Davies, R. Moorhouse, Mikrokosmos, Kraków 2002, p. 428.

^[2]N. Davis, R. Moorhouse, ibidem. 

In the 1970s, the Jewish cemetery in Kamienna Góra was officially closed and liquidated. It was established in 1880 on the southern slope of Castle Mountain, near today’s Bolesława I Street, replacing the old cemetery from 1824, located on the northern slope, near Katowicka Street. At the end of the war, approximately one thousand prisoners from the Kamienna Góra branch of the German concentration camp Gross Rosen and the Jewish transit camp in Krzeszów were buried in the already devastated cemetery. Among them were also Poles, Soviet prisoners of war, and representatives of other nationalities. These mass graves and bodies in striped uniforms were discovered when Polish settlers ordered the Germans in Kamienna Góra to exhume them. The cemetery was liquidated in the 1970s, and the tombstones were taken to an unknown location. Today, only the arrangement of trees and the marking of the mass grave of prisoners remain as reminders of the former cemetery.