Letter of Walter S.G. Kohn dated September 14, 1993 concerning his experiences in Lichtenfels during the Nazi era

Letter of Walter S.G. Kohn dated September 14, 1993 concerning his experiences in Lichtenfels during the Nazi era

[...] The few people who went into Jewish stores until November 1938, who came to our side of the street to greet us, were heroes at that time. I have repeatedly mentioned the remark of the city pastor Friedrich during my "expulsion" from the Realschule in 1936 (1). Being slipped a treat at the cheese store was a heroic act, as was the weekly Saturday evening visit by the railroad official (I can't remember his exact title) Kaemmerer and his daughter. There were a handful of Lichtenfelser who supported us until the end, not many and not by large demonstrations. Nobody dared to do that anymore. But a few people let us know they stood with us -- and many, many fell victim to their own cowardice.

Mr. Aumer was the official responsible for passports in the district office. His wife had gone to school with my mother: The families knew each other well. To be able to go to an authority without being snubbed was a rarity. Claude (Klaus) Bamberger has described how Mr. Aumer came to his mother one evening to warn her that her passport would be confiscated in a few days and to advise her to leave as soon as possible. I didn't know where I was going abroad, so we asked Mr. Aumer to issue the passport for two countries, England and North America. "I'm not allowed to, you're not allowed to do a lot of things these days," he said, but he did it. All these were hardly heroic deeds, but such small episodes felt extremely good and made life much easier.

As for District Judge Reck, he adhered to the old law wherever he could. When the prosecutor wanted to know the religion of a Jewish defendant, Mr. Reck immediately said that this was not customary before. His mocking "No klor" (“surely”) as confirmation of the Nazi changes has become proverbial in our family. […]

September 14, 1993