On November 9, 1938 Hitler used as an excuse the killing of a German diplomat in Paris to show the "spontaneous" planned assault on the Jewish Community. It was to show the world once and for all what he intended to do to the Jews of Germany and to see if anyone in the world would react.
Thousands of synagogues and Jewish businesses were destroyed and
approximately 20,000 Jewish men were rounded up and sent to concentration camps on that day merely for the crime of being Jewish. Augsburg sent about 200 men to Dachau on November 10, 1938. This section is being created to tell the story of what happened. There are about a half a dozen of these men who are still alive, and I hope to get their stories posted.
KRISTALLNACHT
November 10, 1938
The following copyright material is from the manuscript written by Rick Landman.
It relates the 24 hour period from the time his father goes to sleep in his bed in Augsburg until he goes to bed the next day in Dachau.
It was November 9, 1938 and my 18 year old father and his family went to sleep in their apartment in Augsburg as usual after hearing on the radio that a 17 year old Jewish boy shot a German official in Paris. Two Gestapo agents in green Bavarian garb rang the doorbell at his family’s apartment at 5 a.m. in the morning. His aunt (who was to die a few years later in the camps) answered the door. All they said was, “Does Heinz Landmann live here?”
She pointed to his bedroom and stood silently in the hallway. They entered the room and woke him up, telling him to get dressed and go with them. His parents now joined his aunt silently in the doorway as he passed by in his Lederhosen (Bavarian leather short pants). My father whispered, “Auf Wiedersehen” as he passed them by and his sisters never even got up from their sleep.
Joseph, my father’s father was not on the list to be picked up by the Gestapo, since they had other plans for him. As my father went to the local police station he passed the Synagogue while it was still smoldering. He saw all of the lines of fire hoses on the ground. The fire engines were watering down the surrounding buildings and were letting the Synagogue burn in a rather controlled and strange fashion.
He was the first person brought to the police station and had no idea of why he was arrested. At first he thought it might be for kissing an Aryan girl or some violation like that. But when he saw more Jewish men being brought into the cell, he knew something else was up. He had just turned eighteen years of age that summer, so he was the youngest and probably the shortest man arrested.
At daybreak my grandfather went out to find Mr. Leopold Rieser, a well-known Jewish attorney, to see if he could get my father out of jail. But on the way, another Gestapo agent saw Joseph on the street and asked if he was Jewish. Saying yes, Joseph was arrested on the spot and by dusk my father and grandfather were sitting on a bench next to each other waiting in silence. Mr. Rieser, the lawyer was also arrested but separated from the rest of the Jews for special treatment.
Finally all the Jewish men in the local police station were taken by a paddy wagen (Gruene Minna) to one Central prison before the “accordion-style” buses showed up to bring everyone to their secret destination. My father and grandfather sat next to each other in the bus. In the seat behind my father was Erich Teutsch, the son of Justizrat Doktor Artur Teutsch. They lived in the same apartment house; just one floor below the Landmanns. Artur Teutsch was an important lawyer who was a decorated hero and wounded in the First World War fighting for the Kaiser, so he wasn’t arrested on Kristallnacht. Erich had to go to Dachau alone. Sad to say, that he and his wife would not get a Visa and would later be sent to the Judenhaus and then to their death in another concentration camps. Erich Teutsch would survive and become the father of David Teutsch who was a president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College for years and his wife Betsy would illustrate one of the prayer books that CBST uses. As a further coincidence, Betsy would be the calligrapher who prepared the wedding invitations for the first lesbian who joined my group of children of Holocaust Survivors. Since I was also invited, she had to calligraphy an invitation for me. It is a small world.
The buses’ windows were covered, and while no one said the word, even my 18 year old father was anxious that Dachau was their secret destination. Augsburg is near Munich, and Dachau is one of Munich’s suburbs. The bus got stuck and lost several times during the ride; it was hard for such a long bus to maneuver on narrow roads. Henry peaked out the window and guessed that they were headed towards the place with the gate “Arbeit Macht Frei”. He was terrified.
When they arrived they had to leave the bus rapidly without speaking, and run inside to line up on a long row of people. Those who didn’t act quickly enough were hit or beaten. While lined up, Nazi officers would go up and down the line yelling at everyone, and asking them questions with no definitive answer. Henry wanted to say whatever he thought the Nazi wanted to hear, but he didn’t know what the right answer was. He heard what was asked of others earlier on the line and what they answered.
When the Nazi asked another man a question, the Jew answered and was beaten for not completing his answer with the Nazi equivalent of “Sir”. Henry knew all of the appropriate titles and would immediately answer with “Yes Herr Sturmbannfuehrer…” to prevent him being beaten.
But when the Nazi stood in front of him he shouted, “Did you say good bye to your mother before you left home this morning?”
If Henry answered “Yes”; then the Nazi would respond, “Good, because now you are going to be shot”.
If he said, “No”, then the Nazi would say, “Too bad, because you’re never going to see her again”. Either way he made it clear that he was not going home alive.
Henry hesitated for a second while trying to think of the proper answer which annoyed the man. The Nazi merely grabbed him by the collar and pulled him out of the line and yelled, “Up against the wall!”
Henry didn’t look back at his father but merely walked up to the wall expecting his imminent death. He waited and waited for shots to ring out but nothing happened. Waiting so long to be shot was rude and insulted his ingrained feeling of Deutsche Puentlichkeit (German punctuality).
He asked himself, “What is the worst that they could do to me if he walked away, shoot me?” So he slowly walked backwards taking little steps each time towards the line of men standing a few yards away.
A tall Jewish man gave him cover as he melded back into the line. Being so small does have the advantage of letting one melt into a crowd. This time a different Nazi walked by and just passed without interrogating him. This was the man who we bumped into decades later in Manhattan. To this day, when things go badly, my father will joke, “It’s not so bad when compared to being put up against the wall to be shot”. I think that I must have inherited his Dachau sense of humor.
But the next morning my father would hear an event that would stay in his mind for the rest of his life. Henry was standing in audible range of the entry area in Dachau when a vehicle pulled up. He could hear the Nazis yelling at a man and then the man being dragged and beaten. He then recognized that it was Mr. Leopold Rieser, the well known attorney who his father wanted to retain earlier the previous day. He was beaten to his death right there in the entry way to Dachau and never even joined the rest of the Augsburg Jews in the camp.
My grandfather was released so that he could officially and legally turn over the Sportsplatz to the Nazis. This gave him the chance to try to get a visa out of the country. My father stayed in Dachau for 6 more weeks. The same stories that I heard were just verfied when my father would give them a first hand accounting. His Capo was a derrainged person who was in the camp for years before the Jews came. They said that he suffered from Stubenkoller (a sort of cabin fever) where he just wanted to please his Nazi supervisor and was sort of in a zombie-like gray state of being. But both my father and grandfather survived their stay in the camp and now had no doubts about their number desire to leave Germany.
Kristallnacht was Hitler’s way of testing whether the world would really lift a finger to save Jews. He got his answer and knew that he could go forward with not only attacking Poland, but with starting the Final Solution of the Jews. Now all German Jews tried to get out of Germany, but few countries would give them visas to enter.
Rick Landman
Copyright 2007
KRISTALLNACHT
November 10, 1938
Speech Written by Henry Landman on the 50th Anniversary in Augsburg 1988
Preface
It is now 50 years since the infamous "Reichskristallnacht". All this time I purposely suppressed my thoughts of this
occurrence. I rarely talked about it in detail (even to my own family), since it would only open painful memories and
give me sleepless nights. What am I writing this story now? I would like to convey to the young German, how it feels to
live in a country where the laws have been silenced, where freedom, rights and human dignity have been taken away,
and where, in the name of patriotism, everything is permissible. I appeal to you, to make certain, that no human being is ever
treated the way I and millions of others were. Thousands of books have been written on how Nazism came to power and
about the atrocities committed during that period of time. I will therefore, strictly concern myself with what happened to me
in the 24 hours of November 9th to November 10th, 1938.
I was born in Augsburg in the year 1920, went for four years to the "Stadtpleger Anger Schule" and from there to
Realgymnasium. I was never a top student and like Professor Haugg said many times, "Madle, Fussball and Kino -
that is all Landman has on his mind". I was an average young boy with many friends, Jewish and Gentile alike, but
all this was changed by the coming to power of Hitler and his cohorts. By the year 1938 all my Christian friends were
not speaking to me any more and we Jews had to live among ourselves. From week to week, life became more
and more difficult and antisemitic acts became more frequent and more violent. So, when in November 1938 a young
Jewish man (who's parents were deported by the Nazis) shot the German Legationssekretar in Paris, we German
Jews expected "reprisals", but we could not foresee what was in store for us.
NOVEMBER 10, 1938
It is 5 o'clock in the morning. I awake to the sound of the doorbell, an ominous and feared noise at this time of the
day. I sit up in bed and listen to voices out in the hallway. My door opens. Two strange men in Lodencoats and
green hunting hats are entering my small bedroom. Behind them I can see my aunt Minna in her nightgown, with a face
as white as the wall. The two strangers ask me for my name and order me to get dressed. I obey and put on my shirt,
Lederhosen and a sweater. While I am dressing, one of the two opens my closet drawers and searches the room.
I am ready to go. By now my parents have emerged from their bedroom and with tears in their eyes, are saying
good-bye to me.
All this took less than 15 minutes. Nobody spoke - except for the saying of good-bye. There was no reason given
for my arrest, no warrant was produced and no information given as to my future whereabouts. I leave my home
walking between the two Gestapo agents. We cross the street in front of the Hotel Kaiserhof and I can see smoke
coming out of the Synagogue in the Halderstrasse. There are people milling around in front of the building.
My two escorts speed up the pace and tell me to look straight ahead. We are going along Schatzlerstrasse and
turning left at the Cafe Eickmann towards Prinzregentenplatz. I know where we re heading. We enter the Police
Building and I am handed over to the officer on night duty. He searches me like a common criminal and tells me to
sit down. After a few minutes the door opens and two other agents enter with my friend Erich Teutsch between
them. The same procedure follows several more time. After about one hour, all of us are taken outside and told to get
inside the waiting "Grune Minna" (that was the popular name for a prison van). We are now driven to the
Katzenstadel prison. As a kid, I often wondered, what it would be like to sit behind these bars and look out at the
"free" people on the street. Well, I found out - it is a terrible feeling. I realize now for the first time, that I am
a prisoner. On our short trip through the town I see the broken windows of several Jewish stores. Upon arrival
at the prison we are put into small cells. I am sharing the old dingy room with two other men. There are friends
of my father and we are encouraging each other, trying to make light of the situation. There is only one bucket
in the cell and we try not to use it. We all agree, that this will turn out to be just a big hoax - they just want to scare
us and will release us soon.
So we sit and wait while the hours go by and it is getting dark. Suddenly we hear noises outside in the hall and
our spirits lift. The little window in the door opens and a guard shoves three bowls of some kind of cereal
through it. I realize that I didn't have anything to eat since the night before and I am very hungry. But just
looking at that "grit", my stomach starts turning and I refuse to touch my portion. After another dreadful hour
the door opens and we are told to take our belongings and to follow the guard. I am sure, that this will be the
end of our nightmare. We walk down a staircase and I don't want to believe my eyes - there on the ground floor
are lined up nearly all the Jewish men of Augsburg... among them I see my father. We are standing silently
for some time until we are given the command to move towards the exit door. Outside stands the only oversized
bus in Augsburg, that regularly carries passengers to Gersthofen. One by one we file into the vehicle and sit
down. I manage to get a seat next to my father. We whisper encouragement to each other and I find out, that my father
was arrested on the street, while trying to get a lawyer for me. As soon as the last man is on board, two Gestapo
men enter and sit down behind the driver. They order us not to smoke and to stop talking. The lights are extinguished
and the bus starts moving. Subconsciously we all know the destination of this trip, but we don't want to believe it.
I compare it to a person, who knows he has a growth inside his body, but is afraid to even mention the
word "Cancer". For us the unmentionable word is "Dachau". Silently we pass through the dark landscape.
Suddenly there is a commotion up front. The bus stops and the Gestapo men are conferring with the driver.
He is trying to turn this enormous vehicle around. It takes nearly half an hour before he finds a spot that is
wide enough. Everybody's spirits soar. Maybe the "Ausland" got wind of what is going on here and put
a stop to it. We all still have great faith in America and the rest of the world. They must do something!
They can't just idly stand by and let outrageous injustices like this go on forever. However our assumptions were
just wishful thinking - nobody cared and we realized, that the driver merely got lost and was now on the right
road towards our final destination. We didn't have to wait much longer to see the end of our involuntary bus
ride. The road widened ahead of us and bright lights lit up the horizon. The bus slowed down and came
to a stop among several other buses. Looking out the window, I saw a big white wall, barbed wire on top,
towers with might searchlights going up and down and their occupants pointing machine guns at us.
A large gate - like an entrance door, with an inscription "ARBEIT MACHT FREI" lay ahead of us.
Hundreds of SS men are screaming, hitting and kicking people indiscriminately. The door of our bus opens and
the voice of the receiving Storm Trooper thunders through the vehicle. "SAUJUDEN RAUS! ON THE DOUBLE!"
The first man in the door is pulled out, hit in the face and told to run towards the designated area to start forming
a line for the rest of us to fall in. Each one of us has to run through the gauntlet of shouting and cursing guards,
hitting and kicking the dazed and bewildered victims. When I finally reach the end of the column, I stand at
attention and listen to the "Empfangsrede". We are given the 10 Commandments of Dachau. The first
one reads, "Suicide is permitted - attempted suicide will be severely punished." It gives us a good idea of
what's in store for us.
After standing at attention for another two hours, listening to the additional indoctrination we are marched
to our quarters - Block 10 Stube 3. The Food Detail brings two kettles filled with raw herring and potatoes
and we devour the grub with our bare hands. Soon after I have to vomit and eventually fall asleep for
sheer exhaustion. And so ends the 10th day of November 1938.
Postscript
Hundreds of books have been written about the most barbaric, inhumane and sadistic treatment ever given
to human beings in the history of mankind in these camps, so mine would only be repetitive. However, I
would like to add, that I think this day will be remembered as the day when Hitler and his cohorts
received the green light from the rest of the world to go ahead with his terror tactics against Jews and
other minorities (homosexuals, gypsies, retarded people and communists). It cost the lives of millions to rectify
this mistake and to put an end to this lunacy. Beware, it can happen again!
KRISTALLNACHT
November 10, 1938
Speech by Henry Landman, delivered in Augsburg on November 9, 1998 as part of their 60th Anniversary Kristallnacht Ceremony
When I received Mr. Römer’s the invitation to take part in this memorial to the 60th Anniversary of "Kristallnacht" – my first thoughts were "No way!"
First of all I am not a speaker, especially in German, and secondly I asked myself, "What can I tell these people that they haven’t heard from other survivors?" But after thinking it over, I realized that this occasion would mean a lot to me and I decided to come and tell you some stories you probably don’t know.
On the night of November 9th to 10th, I awoke at 5:00 o’clock in the morning from the sound of our doorbell. Shortly thereafter the door to my bedroom opened and two strange men dressed in rain coats entered. They produced a slip of paper and asked me if I was "Heinz Landmann". I answered, "Yes".
"Get dressed and come with us!" that was all I was told. We left our apartment house on Hermannstrasse and as we crossed Halderstrasse (the street where our synagogue was located) I smelled smoke and saw fire engines and hoses in front of the synagogue. I knew immediately what was happening --- the synagogue was burning!
When I was transported from the Police Station to the "Katzenstadel" prison I saw from the prison van several Jewish stores with their windows smashed and broken glass all over the sidewalk. (That’s why they started to call this night, "Kristallnacht" – crystal night.)
I spent the rest of the day with three other Augsburger Jews (Erich Teutsch, Alfred Stein and Simon Kupfer) in a small cell. Around 4:00 p.m. we were taken out of the cell by a guard, and led to the ground floor. There I saw nearly all of Augsburg’s Jewish men standing in a double line ready to be transported to a new location. Among them I spotted my father. After a two hour long busride we arrived at our next destination. It was the notorious concentration camp "Dachau". Our reception there can only be described by the word "inhuman".
This day of horror came to an end with I finally fell asleep, totally exhausted on the floor of Block 10 Stube 3, between my father and Rabbi Dr. Jacob. If at this moment an angel would have appeared and would have told me, "Heinz, sixty years from now, you will be the guest speaker in the newly renovated synagogue at a memorial service to commemorate this day", I would have told him, "My dear angel, you must have drank a little too much ‘Holy Water’ – I’d rather believe that a man will take a stroll on the moon." Today we know that what seemed impossible at that time is real today.
To point out the great difference between then and now, I would like to describe a small story not known to most of you about this synagogue, showing the results of Kristallnacht and the first post war service in this burned out house of worship.
When I entered Augsburg on the 28th day of April 1945, with the first American troops and saw the burned out synagogue in the nearly totally destroyed city for the first time again, I realized that there was a certain connection between the two. The destroyed "House of God" was the beginning of the madness, namely making Augsburg "Judenrein" (free from Jews) and the ruined city was the end result of the folly. I was glad that my outfit spent only a few hours in Augsburg because we were on the move towards Munich and Salzburg. There we celebrated the end of WWII and were stationed in Salzburg, when I read in an Army paper that there would be the first Sabbath service in the cleaned out synagogue of Augsburg for the American troops the following Friday. I had to be there no matter what!
However the American Army didn’t just furnish every Private with a car and chauffeur to travel 300 miles for a Sabbath service. I had to use a few white lies in order to obtain a 3-day pass, but I succeeded and Friday morning I found myself on the autobahn traveling to Augsburg.
When I arrived towards evening in front of the synagogue, I saw a group of American soldiers waiting for the doors to open, but I also noticed a small group of about 10 German men and a woman. I recognized most of them… they were mostly "Half-Jews" (people with Jewish and Christian parents). That was how they survived the Holocaust. Among them was also a Jewish man (a friend of my father’s) who was hidden by a Christian woman for four years as she saved his life. I want to mention this, to show that there were a few Germans who risked their lives in order to help save their Jewish friends.
You can imagine what kind of reception I received from my former friends. When the doors opened I entered the synagogue with them for the first time since 1938. What we saw was a shock to us all. The dark inside was lit up by a few bulbs hanging from some wires, the smell of smoke and mildew filled the air and where ever the eye glanced there was damage from the fire, water, soot, and dirt. Birds flew through the broken windows to their nests in the dome. It was a devastating sight, but in spite of it we had a Sabbath service once again in this synagogue.
An American Chaplain read the English parts and one of the Jewish soldiers sang the Hebrew melodies to conduct the service. Obviously, the Chaplain heard of my background and wanted to do something special, so he gave me the honor of opening the ark during the "Aleinu", the final prayer. On a signal from him I began to walk up the steps leading to the altar. Like in a dream, I remembered when I sat as a little boy in the children’s lodge and admired Komerzienrat Dann (President Dann) climbing up these same steps, dressed in a tuxedo and top hat and stopping before the Holy Ark. With one hand he opened the door covered with velvet and gold braiding and there in bright lights were ten Torah scrolls with gold and silver crowns and ornaments. It always was a breathtaking sight, which I never will forget. So, when in 1945 I reached the last step, I suddenly awoke to the sober reality. I stood in front of a dirty, rusty wooden door, that I could only open a few inches and there in the dark stood a tiny paper Torah, that was borrowed from the American Chaplain. With tears in my eyes, I turned around and stood next to the slightly opened ark. While I listened to the Cantor recite the "Aleinu" I looked down to the audience. For the first time I realized the enormous consequences of the Kristallnacht. I looked over a burned out chapel, totally destroyed, a handful of members, left from the over 1,000 person congregation, in a city which was 80% destroyed, in a land that just lost the worst war in history. There were shortages of all the necessities, in short, it was probably the lowest point in the history of this synagogue.
So, when I stand here today on the same spot, overlooking the beautiful newly renovated interior of this House of God, that once again has a membership of over 1,000 people, in a rebuilt city, in a democratic and successful land, with a new generation of people who had the courage and character to memorialize this "Schandtag" (Day of Shame) in German history, then I can only call it a miracle. And that is why this day is so meaningful for me and for all of us.
To bad, that we can’t change the past, but we can learn a lesson from it; namely to treat all our fellow humans, regardless of race, religion or sexual orientation, with dignity and respect. Than I hope, that our children and grandchildren will know the "Kristallnacht" only from a time in history where power and might ruled Germany and millions of innocent people were murdered.
Finally, I would like to mention that I and several other survivors of those terrible years would like to see a memorial with all the names of those Augsburger Jews killed during the Holocaust. Many towns, even small ones, have such remembrance plaques for their former Jewish neighbors. Some of us wanted to finance such a project, but we decided that this should not be the job of the survivors, but that of the City of Augsburg. We would all appreciate it greatly if our dream could come true.
KRISTALLNACHT
November 10, 1938
Speech by Henry Landman, delivered in Augsburg on November 9, 1998 as part of their 60th Anniversary Kristallnacht Ceremony in German - Auf Deutsch.
Als ich von Herrn Römer die Einladung erhielt an dieser Gedenkfeier zum 60.
Jahrestag der "Kristallnacht" teilzunehmen - Da war meine erste Entscheidung
- Nein, Auf keinen Fall.
Erstens, ich bin kein Redner, besonders in der deutschen Sprache und
zweitens, ich fragte mich, was kann ich den Leuten erzählen, das sie nicht
schon hundert Mal in Wort und Bild von anderen Holocaust Überlebenden
gelesen und gehört haben?
Jedoch nach reiflicher Überlegung kam mir zum Bewustsein, dass dieser Tag
etwas ganz besonderes für mich bedeuten würde und ich entschloss mich
hierher - zu kommen und Ihnen ein paar bisher unbekannte Erlebnisse, zu
erzählen.
In der Nacht vom 9-10 November 1938 erwachte ich um 5 Uhr morgens vom
Geräusch der Türklingel. Die Tür zu meinem Schlafzimmer öffnete sich und
zwei wildfremde Männer in Lodenmäntel standen mir gegenüber. "Bist du Heinz
Landmann?" fragte einer der zwei, als er meinen Namen von einem Zettel
las. Ich antwortete, "Ja". "Zieh dich an und komm mit uns!" Das war alles
was gesprochen wurde. Als wir unsere Wohnung in der Herrmann-Strasse #3
verliessen und die Halderstrasse überquerten sah ich Schleuche und Feuerwehr
vor der Synagoge. Der Geruch von Rauch füllte die kalte Morgen Luft. Ich
wusste was vorging - Die Synagoge brannte!
Auf dem Weg vom Polizeipräsidium zum Gefängnis Katzenstadel sah ich
vom Polizeiwagen verschiedene jüdische Geschäfte mit eingeschlagenen Fenstern. (Daher der
Name "Kristallnacht".) Ich verbrachte den Rest des Tages mit 3 anderen
Augsburger Juden (Erich Teutsch, Alfred Stein und Simon Kupfer) in einer kleinen Zelle. Gegen 4 Uhr Nachmittags wurden wir
heraus geholt und ein Wächter führte uns zum Erdgeschoss. Dort waren fast
alle Augsburger jüdischen Männer versammelt (einschliesslich meines Vaters) und
zum Abtransport bereit. Nach einer 2 stündigen Busfahrt erreichten wir
unseren Bestimmungsort. Es war das gefürchtete KZ Dachau. Unseren Empfgang
dort kann ich nur mit einem Wort beschreiben - "Unmenchlisch".
Dieser Schreckenstag endete als ich endlich total erschöpft auf dem Boden
in Stube 3 Block 10, zwischen Rabiner Dr. Jacob und meinem Vater einschlief. Wäre mir in diesem Augenblick ein Engel
erschienen und hätte mir gesagt: "Heinz, in 60 Jahren wirst du in der neu
erbauten Synagoge an einer Gedenkfeier für diesen Tag teilnehmen", dann
hätte ich ihm erwiedert: "Mein lieber Engel - Du hast wohl etwas zu viel
heiliges Wasser hinter die Binde gegossen - da glaub ich noch eher, dass ein
Mann auf dem Mond spazieren gehn wird. Heute wissen wir, dass, was damals
unglaublich und unmöglich erschien, ist Wirklichkeit geworden.
Wie gross der unterschied von damals und heute ist, möchte ich mit einer
Geschichte schildern, die nur sehr wenigen von Ihnen bekannt ist, nämlich,
der erste Gottesdienst in dieser ausgebrannten Synagoge und die Folgen der
Kristallnacht.
Als ich am 28. April 1945 mit den ersten amerikanischen Truppen in Augsburg
einfuhr und die ausgebrannte Synagoge in der fast völlig zertrümmerten Stadt
zum ersten Mal wiedersah, da wurde mir ein Zusammenhang bewusst. Das in der Kristallnacht zerstörte Gotteshaus war der
Anfang eines Wahnsinnes, nämlich Augsburg "Judenrein" zu machen und die
zerstreute Stadt war das Endresultat dieser Idee. Ich war froh, dass wir
nur ein paar Stunden in Augsburg verblieben und nach München weiterfuhren.
Das Ende des Krieges feierten wir in Salzburg und wenige Tage später las ich
in einer Armee Zeitung, das am nächsten Freitag der erste Sabbat
Gottesdienst in der ausgeräumten Synagoge von Augsburg stattfinden würde.
Da musste ich dabei sein!
Jedoch leider stellte die Amerikanische Armee nicht jedem Gefreiten einen
Wagen mit Chauffeur zur Verfügung um circa 300 KM zum Sabbat Gottesdienst zu
fahren. Es bedurfte ein paar Notlügen und all meine Beziehungen um einen 3
tägigen Urlaubsschein zu erhalten. Gesagt-getan! Am Freitag morgen befand
ich mich auf der Autobahn- Richtung Augsburg.
Als ich gegen Abend in der Halderstrasse ankam, da sah ich ein paar Gruppen
von amerikanischen Soldaten vor dem Tore stehen und auch eine kleine Gruppe
deutscher Civilisten. Ich erkannte sofort die meisten. Es waren ungefähr 10
Leute, die einen jüdischen und einen christlichen Vater oder Mutter hatten-
sogenannte Halb Juden und deshalb verschont blieben. Unter Ihnen fand ich
auch einen jüdischen Mann, der von einer deutschen Christin für 3 Jahre
versteckt wurde und die ihm somit das Leben rettete. Ich will das erwähnen
um zu zeigen, dass es auch einige wenige Deutsche gab, die etwas für Ihre
jüdischen Mitbürger taten und Ihnen in ihrer Not Hilfe leisteten. Sie
können sich vorstellen was für einen Empfang ich damals von meinen
ehemaligen Freunden erhielt. Als das Tor geöffnet wurde betrat ich zum
erstenmal seit 1938 dieses Gotteshaus.
Die Amerikanische Armee hatte einige Reihen von Klappstühlen in der leeren
dunklen Halle aufgestellt. Zur Beleuchtung dienten 3 oder 4 Drähte mit
Glühbirnen. Es war ein unbeschreiblich trauriger Anblick. Wohin das
Augeblickte - war Russ, Schmutz und von Wasser and Feuer beschädigtes
Innerhalb. Der Geruch von Rauch und Mehltau füllte die Luft und Vögel
flogen durch die eingeschlagenen Fenster zu ihren Nesten in der Kuppe.
Trotz all der Vernichtung - wir hatten wieder einen Gottesdienst in dieser
Synagoge. Ein amerikanischer Chaplain las den englischen Teil der Gebete
und einer der jüdischen Soldaten sang die hebräischen Melodien. Der
Chaplain erfuhr natürlich von meiner Vergangenheit und wollte etwas
besonderes für mich tun- so gab er mir die "Ehre" beim Schlussgebet die
heilige Lade zu öffnen. Auf ein Zeichen von ihm, begann ich langsam die
Altartreppen hinaufzusteigen. Wie in einem Traum erinnerte ich mich, wie
ich als kleiner Junge in der Loge sass und Herrn Komerzienrat Dann
bewunderte, als er im Frack und Zilinderhut diese Stufen heraufstieg, vor
der mit einem goldbestickten Samtvorhang bekleidenten Lade halt machte und
dann das Tor mit einer Hand zurückschub. In strahlender Beleuchtung standen
dort ungefähr 10 Tora rollen mit silbernen und goldenen Kronen und
Brustplatten beschmückt. Es war immer ein atemberauschender Anblick den ich
nie vergessen werde. So, als ich 1945 die letzte Stufe erreichte, erwachte ich
plötzlich zu der ernüchtender Wirklichkeit. Ich stand vor einer schmutzigen,
eingerosteten Holztüre, die ich nur mit aller Gewalt ein Paar Centimeter
zurückschieben konnte.
Innerhalb im Dunkeln stand eine kleine papier Tora, die von der Armee zur
Verfügung gestellt wurde. Mit Tränen in den Augen - trat ich zur Seite und
der Vorbeter begann das Schlussgebet. Als ich von der Kanzel
herunterblickte, da sah ich zum ersten Male die unheimlichen Folgen der
Kristallnacht. Ein ausgebranntes Gotteshaus mit der völlig zerstörten
Innenseite- eine 1000 köpfige Gemeinde, die zu einer Handvoll übrig
gebliebenen Mitgliedern zusammengeschrumpft war - in einer fast 100%
zertrümmerten Stadt - in einem Land das gerade den schlimmsten
Krieg verloren hatte und in dem Mangel an allen Nötigkeiten bestand, mit anderen
Worten - es war wahrscheinlich der tiefste Punkt in der Geschichte dieser
Synagoge.
So, wenn ich heute hier an demselben Platz stehe und überblicke die
neuerbaute herrliche Innenseite dieses Gotteshauses, das heute wieder eine
über 1000 köpfige Gemeinde sein eigen zählen kann- in einer schönen, neuen
Stadt - in einem demokratischen, blühendem Land mit einer neuen Generation
von Menschen, die den Mut and Charakter aufbrachten diesen Schandtag in der
deutschen Geschichte, als einen Erinnerungstag zu feiern - dann kann ich das
nur als ein Wunder bezeichnen. Darum ist dieser Tag für mich und für uns
alle von so grosser Bedeutung geworden.
Leider können wir die Vergangenheit nicht ändern, aber wir können von Ihr
lernen. Wenn wir aus dieser Zeit die Lehre ziehen- all unsere Mitmenschen,
gleich welcher Rasse, Religion oder Lebensweise sie angehören - mit Respekt
und Würde zu behandeln, dann hoffe ich, dass unsere Kinder und Kindeskinder
das Wort "Kristallnacht" nur von jener Zeit kennen, als "Macht und Tracht"
in Deutschland regierten und das Leben von Millionen unschuldiger Menschen
kostete.
Zum Schluss möchte ich noch erwähnen, dass nicht nur ich, sondern auch andere Überlebende jener schrecklichen Jahre, wir wünschen uns schon lange eine Gedenktafel mit den Namen aller ermordeten Augsburger und Augsburgerinen. In vielen Städten gibt es solche Gedenktafeln, sogar sehr kleine Gemeinden erinnern so an ihre ehemaligen jüdischen Bürger. Einige von uns Überlebenden haben schon darüber gesprochen, selbst eine solche Namenstafel in Augsburg zu finanzieren. Es gibt sogar schon einen Entwurf. Aber eine solche Gedenktafel aufzustellen, das darf eigentlich nicht die Sache der Überlebenden sein. Es wäre uns ein Genugtuung, wenn sich das die Stadt Augsburg zur Aufgabe machen würde.
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KRISTALLNACHT IN AUGSBURG
Over 1,000 Augsburgers marched through the streets in the rain in a silent vigil to remember what happened on November 9, 1938.
Actress read the names of those Augsburger Jews who were deported from the Judenhaus to their death.
Picture of 2 Judenhouses. This was the location, but was a former structure. The former structure was owned by Jews, and was taken over by the Nazis and several Jewish families were forcibly moved into each apartment after Kristallnacht.
This was the apartment house on Hermannstrasse where the Gestapo came on November 10, 1938 and arrested Henry. His apartment was on the 3rd floor.
This is a picture of the exterior of the renovated Augsburg Synagogue. This is an exact restoration except that the Jewish stars which used to adorn the top of the building were never restored. In addition, the organ which used to be inside the synagogue was replaced with a menorah, since the Orthodox community, now in charge, did not wish to have the former organ replaced.
Television reporters interviewing Henry Landman before his speech at the Synagogue.
Henry making the speech in the Synagogue.
Interior view of the restored Synagogue, showing the podium where Henry was speaking.
Henry spoke at the Peutinger Gymnaisum 11th grade class. This was the same school that he attended before the Jews were separated from other Augsburgers in 1935 due to the "Nurnberg Laws".
A picture of Principal Gerda Martin and Henry Landman.
Henry always spoke of the Dampfnudel which his mother made on Fridays. Thanks to the Bachner/Karcher family, he was served dampfnudel for dinner.
COMMEMORATIONS