94-year-old witness returns to Berlin to recount the 1938 pogrom

George Shefi was six years old on November 9, 1938, when his mother kept him indoors for three days to protect him from the violence unfolding outside. When he was finally permitted to step onto the street, the Jewish school inside the nearby Berlin synagogue had been reduced to ashes. The Jewish hat store across the way had been looted, and the windows of the stationery shop next door lay in fragments.

Shefi, now 94 and a resident of Jerusalem, returned to Germany’s capital this week to mark the 88th anniversary of Kristallnacht. He described the scene at a recent visit to his childhood home in the Schoeneberg district. The owner of the Jewish shop was attempting to clean up the debris while a crowd of 30 to 50 people jeered and shouted insults.

The event, known as the Night of Broken Glass, saw Nazis and many ordinary Germans terrorize Jews across Germany and Austria. At least 91 people died during the pogroms, and 7,500 Jewish businesses suffered vandalism. Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial reports that more than 1,400 synagogues were targeted by arsonists.

Shefi sits on a bench in a nearby park, a spot where he was once barred from sitting as a Jewish child. He now shares his memories to keep the history alive. He noted that he once hated the German people but reached a different conclusion about a decade ago. He realized that younger generations could not be blamed for events from 80 years prior.

He now addresses school groups and other Germans to teach the lessons of the past. Shefi argues that while people are not responsible for what happened, they will be responsible for what happens in the next five to ten years. He stated that without knowledge of the Holocaust, society cannot prevent future persecution.

Kristallnacht represented a major escalation in Nazi persecution of Jews. It preceded the formal adoption of the Final Solution, which marked the shift from boycotts and legislation to systematic mass murder. Six million European Jews were killed during the Holocaust.

For Shefi, the night also ended his sheltered childhood. In July 1939, his mother Marie Spiegelglas placed him on a Kindertransport to England with 300 other Jewish children. He never saw her again. She was deported to Auschwitz and murdered in 1943.

Shefi lived with several foster families in England and survived the German bombing of London. He later moved to the United States before settling in Jerusalem. There, he raised a family, ran a tool shop, and served as a volunteer police officer.

In Berlin, Shefi shared his story with police officers visiting the city to deepen their understanding of the Holocaust. He joined Jochen Kopelke, chairman of the German Police Union, who prioritizes educating officers about Jewish life. Kopelke noted that many officers in Germany know little about contemporary Jewish life.

Kopelke said that police protected synagogues but must also understand the force’s role during the Third Reich. He pointed out that police in the Nazi era actively participated in the Shoah, guarded concentration camps, and deported people. He added that officers must know the history of the police and be brought into the real world beyond the historical process.