Kristallnacht Eye Witness Account 6 - Undated

Eye-witness accounts held by the Wiener Library taken immediately following the state-sanctioned campaign of hatred against Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe on the 9th/10th November 1938 have been translated for the first time to mark the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass) and the launch of the theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2009: Stand up to Hatred

Extract from Account B156 Undated

The mob can be seen everywhere, looking happy; after all, they have accomplished a great feat. Families have had their homes stolen. 16 people crammed into one small room, to live in that state for three days. Everything the Jews had in the way of money and jewellery was taken away. People did not shrink from taking the earrings from the ears of small children, or the last coin from women’s handbags. Those of my acquaintances who managed to get released from the prison could not say enough about the suffering they had had to endure; although they had been front-line soldiers in the Great War, they unanimously agreed that they had never seen such horrors. In a cellar in which the Jews were imprisoned, the following took place:

Women aged between 50 -55 were made to strip naked and dance for the men imprisoned with them; the dance was demonstrated to them by the SA. Sick women were obliged to answer the call of nature in public, in front of men and children, as there was only one WC for 200 people. Children between the ages of one month to two years received nothing to eat for two days, as they were imprisoned with their parents.

I could continue this report for hours.

• Kristallnacht_6_Undated (PDF document)