85 yrs ago this morning, the synagogue in the Bavarian spa town of Bad Kissingen looked like this.
By the following morning, it was a burned-out shell, and the Jewish men of the town, like my great-uncle Leopold, were under arrest.
It was the pogrom we know as #Kristallnacht. /1
By the following morning, it was a burned-out shell, and the Jewish men of the town, like my great-uncle Leopold, were under arrest.
It was the pogrom we know as #Kristallnacht. /1
In 1950, the German government brought criminal charges against 14 Bad Kissingen men for the destruction of the synagogue. The judges acquitted 13 of them. They convicted just one, Emil Otto Walter, who was the local Nazi Party leader. /2 #Kristallnachtherdenking
I only came across this court decision quite recently. It's a fascinating read, in part because the court summarized the testimony that had been offered against each of the defendants.
As I went through it, this passage stood out. /3
As I went through it, this passage stood out. /3
It says: "Finally, witness K, who owns a drugstore at Untere Marktstrasse 13, testifies truthfully that his father was asked from the street that night whether a shop window belonged to him. When his father said no (the window belonged to a Jewish shop), it was smashed in."
This hit me hard. The "Jewish shop" at that address was my great-uncle Leo's.
Leo was murdered in 1942, so nobody ever got to ask them about his experience of Kristallnacht.
Who would've imagined that, 85 years later, an old document would give me a glimpse? /end
Leo was murdered in 1942, so nobody ever got to ask them about his experience of Kristallnacht.
Who would've imagined that, 85 years later, an old document would give me a glimpse? /end
This, by the way, was Leo.
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