Contemporary witnesses
Testimonies from
November 1938
The beginning of systematic persecution
On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the 1938 November pogrom, Centropa is presenting on November1938.at excerpts from interviews with Viennese Jews who share personal stories from the year 1938.
These narratives often do not begin with the Kristallnacht pogrom of November 1938, but start as early as March 1938 with the so-called “Anschluss” of Austria to the German Reich. While the majority of the Austrian population welcomed the invading German troops on March 12, 1938 with enthusiasm, a difficult time was now beginning for the Jewish population. From this moment forward they could be openly discriminated against – as, for example, with the so-called “Reibpartie,”a term describing groups of Jewish citizens who were forced to scrub the streets with brushes while neighbors and onlookers watched.
The background picture above shows the destroyed and desecrated interior of the Stadttempel (City Prayer House) at Seitenstettengasse 4 on November 10, 1938 (Photo: Yad Vashem Archives | Item ID: 512)
How did Jews experience the year 1938 and the November pogroms in Austria?
Kurt Brodmann
Kurt Brodmann was fifteen years old at the time of the November pogroms. Here he describes his memories of how his mother gave away her ticket to safe Shanghai in order to to take care of his grandfather.
Wilhelm Steiner
Wilhelm Steiner was eighteen years old in November 1938 and had to watch how his family’s business was plundered. When he wanted to intervene, he was accused of insulting Hitler and arrested.
Kitty Schrott
In 1938, Kitty Schrott was only four years old and ignored the new prohibitions – without knowing it.
Paul Rona
Paul Rona was less than seventeen years old when he and his father were arrested on pogrom night. Paul was released but his father was deported to a concentration camp.
Edith Brickell
Edith Brickell was fifteen years old in 1938 and later wondered why her parents underestimated the threat posed by the Nazis.
Heinz Klein
Heinz Klein was deported to a concentration camp the day after the November pogroms and flew to Palestine immediately after his release.
Gerda Feldsberg
Gerda was eight years old when she was suddenly attacked on the playground after the Anschluss by other children – and their parents.
Gertrude Kritzer
In 1938, Gertrude Kritzer was fifteen years old. On the morning of November 10, her father, Adolf Roman Braun, was arrested, detained and tortured for ten days. Learn how Gertrude’s mother tried to prevent the arrest here.
Sophie Hirn
Sophie Hirn was nine years old when she experienced the November pogroms. She reports on how being excluded by the Nazis ultimately strengthened her relationship to Jewish tradition.
Julius Chaimowicz
Julius Chaimowicz, who was only six years old at the time of the November pogroms in 1938, reports how negligence proved to be a stroke of luck for his family.
Paul Back
Paul Back reports on how he experienced the Nazi takeover in Austria when he was twelve years old.
Here you can read about how Paul initially found the Wehrmacht uniforms and marches very fascinating.
Erwin Landau
After the pogroms nine-year-old Erwin Landau first tried to escape to France with his family – and finally landed in Shanghai.
Resources
Want to learn more about the November Pogroms?
The reports and films featured on this site are just a glimpse into the multi-faceted history of the November Pogroms in 1938. We’ve put together an extensive directory of resources to help you deepen your knowledge.
The image in the background shows a destroyed shoe store in Vienna on November 10, 1938
(Photo: Wiener Library/DöW F. Nr. 6392)