November 11, 1938

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The past three days brought significant changes in our lives. On November 7, a German legation member was assassinated in Paris. He died two days later. The day following, on November 10 [sic], came the consequences. At three o’clock the synagogue and the Jewish youth center were put on fire. Then they began to destroy Jewish businesses. During the morning, private homes also were being demolished. Fires were started at single homes belonging to Jews. At six-thirty in the morning the Gestapo came to our home and arrested Father and Mother [...] Mother returned after about one and a half hours. Dad remained and was put in prison. In the morning I went to the Ferse home. Bobby was at the synagogue and at the youth center in the morning and saw how they burned. Later we went to the day care center where the children had been brought from the community home, which they had to flee during the night.

     We [...] returned to our neighborhood by two o’clock. Not far from us we saw a gang vandalizing a home, throwing things out of the window. […] When I turned into the front yard I saw that the house was damaged. I walked on glass splinters. In the hallway I met Frau Baum, who lived upstairs. I ran into our apartment and found unbelievable destruction in every room. It was the same in the apartment of the caretaker below us. Mother and Grandmother were there. My parents’ instruments were destroyed, the dishes were broken, the windows were broken, furniture upturned, the desk was turned over, drawers and mirrors were broken, and the radio smashed. The kitchen and bathroom were untouched. The upstairs room also was left alone, including my father’s cello. The cellar also was not disturbed. The apartment of the caretaker, Bachrach, was in much worse condition.

Klaus with his father Erich Langer

November 11, 1938 (cont)

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In the evening, mother brought gold and other valuables for safekeeping to Christian acquaintances. We wanted to spend the night at home, but the caretaker, Frau Bachrach, urged us to go to her relatives, the Herzfields, where we spent the night. I read until late. In the middle of the night, at 2:30 A.M. the Storm troopers [Dturmabteilung or SA, also known as the Brownshirts] smashed windows and threw stones against stone shutters. After a few minutes they demanded to be let into the house. Allegedly they were looking for weapons. After they found no weapons they left. After that no one was able to go back to sleep. Everyone sat in one room. I tried but could not sleep. After a while I went back to where they were sitting and found they had dozed off. The time passed terribly slowly. Then we thought there was still another person in the house who was making noise. Finally, at 5A.M. I saw a policeman outside who walked back and forth. I shall never forget that night.

     The next day, rumor had it that children under sixteen years of age would also be arrested. I wanted to flee and ride my bicycle to Christian friends of my parents who lived in the Rhineland. Mother objected, however, and I remained at home, of course. The next night we all wanted to sleep at home, but we were too upset. At nine-thirty at night we went to the Kosmanns’ where the gangsters had already been, that is, they had destroyed everything. We had calmed down somewhat and slept there quite well.

     Books could be written about all that had happened and about which we now begin to learn more. But, I have to be careful. A new regulation was issued that the Jews in Germany had to pay one billion reichsmarks for restitution. What for? For the damage the Nazis had done to the Jews in Germany. I shall return to that subject later. My room will stay as it is. I am not going to go to school as long as Dad is not at home. I now want to get to Erez Israel as quickly as possible, maybe with the first Youth Aliyah. The plan for making aliyah was made some time ago. The Bund of course has come to a stand still. Its leaders were arrested.

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December 19, 1938

�Regarding the emigration of my parents I have the following to report. First came two refusals from Argentina for lack of letters of credit. The rich uncle in America is unable to assume such a financial responsibility. We don’t have an affidavit for the U.S. India requires firm employment there, or a contract. Father is now trying to make connections in India to obtain a contract. He also wrote to Peru and he was told to go to the Uruguayan consulate. Allegedly the Dominican Republic would take ten thousand Jews and provide them with visas. However, nothing further is known about that. It probably makes no sense to turn to them. However, with a Dominican Republic visa it is possible to get a half-year visa for Palestine. Shanghai also accepts Jews, even without a visa, but it is questionable how one can live there. The mail also brought no news from Palestine. We had submitted a request for a “commercial certification.”

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Klaus with his mother Rose Langer

Klaus Langer with his bike

Klaus at home in Essen with his cello

September 8, 1939 [Denmark]

My last entry the situation took a turn for the worse so that I did not have an opportunity to write until today. I am sitting here in a room in which there is a bed, a table, a box, my suitcase, and in the corner there is a curtain, which comprises all the furnishings. [...]

On August 29 I received a letter from the Aid to Jewish Youth in Berlin. Efforts were under way to get us into Denmark. We were to prepare to leave. My hopes were not very high since we were disappointed so many times before. However, on September 2, the second day of the war, a telegram arrived that instructed me to be in Berlin the next morning because we would be going to Denmark. […] That afternoon at four o’clock I left Essen. Dad had called Aunt Kate in Berlin who was to pick me up. The departure from my parents was very short and difficult. I had no idea when I would see them again, especially because the war is on now. To be in a war in Germany as a Jew means to be ready for the worst. When I sit here all alone, I often think of my parents and grandmother and then only sad thoughts come to mind.

     On September 2 I arrived late in Berlin and went to Aunt Kate. The Youth Organization had already sent instructions. I slept badly and had to leave very early, at six o’clock, from the Stettin railroad station. There was also a group from Schniebinchen. Not all were there, partly because of their age, and also because some were cut off  by the Germans from their homes in East Prussia. There also were many from Vienna. The total transport included forty-eight people. Half came from Vienna. We traveled to Warnemunde on the Baltic coast. We had no problem crossing the border. We then traveled by ferry about one and a half to two hours to Gedser in Denmark. It was a beautiful crossing. As we learned later, it was the last boatload to leave with Germans. A few hours later war was declared by England and France.

Klaus (Jacob) Langer in Erez Israel