Testimony by
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.
“…he wasn't allowed to do anything as a Jew. ”
“In 1938, my ill grandfather was thrown out of his apartment; he wasn’t allowed to stay at a hotel, he wasn’t allowed to sit on any bench, he wasn’t allowed to do anything as a Jew. He stank because he couldn’t wash himself. My mother had received an exit permit for Shanghai, but she said, ‘I have to give it up. There’s no way I will leave my father behind by himself in his condition.‘ So my mother gave her ticket to her sister, Aunt Anni, and my father and Aunt Anni fled to Shanghai together.
“My mother had given up her chance to escape to Shanghai and now she could no longer leave.”
My mother then performed superhuman feats until my grandfather’s death in January 1939. And she even buried him, at the fourth gate of the Central Cemetery. He rests in the same grave as my Uncle Artur, his son.
My mother had given up her chance to escape to Shanghai and now she could no longer leave. She looked like a Christian, and every day she went to the Jewish community and said, ‘My husband is in Shanghai, I have to go and join him.’”
Photo at the top:
Kurt and Erika Brodmann, Leopold and Franziska Brodmann, Harry and Joyce Brodmann and relatives on a visit to Israel.
Photo taken in:
Tel Aviv-Yaffo
Interviewee:
Kurt Brodmann
Year of the interview:
2002
Interviewer:
Tanja Eckstein
Learn more about Kurt Brodmann?
Read the full biography of Kurt Brodmann here on the Centropa website.
You can also find many more photos of Kurt Brodmann and his family here in the Centropa photography database.
Teaching Materials
We’ve come up with suggestions on how students can engage in class with the story of Kurt Brodmann.
Under this link here you can find a PDF document with various questions and exercises.
We look forward to feedback on our materials – just write us a message via the contact form!
Lowell Blackman (Lod, Israel)
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)
More testimonies
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.
Heinz Klein
Heinz Klein was deported to a concentration camp the day after the November pogroms and flew to Palestine immediately after his release.
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.