“Our synagogue is burning!”
Rabbi Manfred Swarsensky dropped the phone and ran to his place of worship. It was 2 a.m., but the sky was already bright. As he approached the Synagogue Prinzregentenstrasse in Berlin, pushing his hat down so he wouldn’t be recognized, Swarsensky saw flames engulfing the building. German soldiers were inside, stoking the flames with gasoline. Nearby, firefighters stood idly by, making sure the flames didn’t extend to other buildings.
Kristallnacht was a night Swarsensky—and any Jewish person who lived through the wave of pogroms that unfolded between November 9 and 10, 1938—would never forget.
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