Memories of the Reichspogromnacht: A contemporary witness reports

Memories of the Reichspogromnacht: A contemporary witness reports

An impressive work about the dark past of Germany has been published! With his new book "Who forgets, does not learn", the historian of Kirchhoven Karl Beumers brings out the 16th volume of his documentaries. On almost 230 pages, he captured the moving memories of contemporary witnesses that lived or were connected in the region during the Nazi era and the Second World War. These valuable reports are not only historiography, but also an urgent call, not to forget the horrors of the past.

A particularly moving example is the story of Kurt Strauss, who died in June 2022. Strauss, born in a respected Jewish family, experienced the Reichspogromnacht on November 9, 1938 up close. "My mother screamed in deaths because a large paving stone landed on her bed," he recalls. The violence he saw at the time had not only assumed simple people, but also from relatives of respected families who once used friendships with Jews. "I still have the picture in mind today, like one of them, the cattle dealer Oskar Herz, was only driven through the city with his slippers on my feet," he reports. The brutality of the SA and the forced measures against Jewish families are unforgettable memories that Strauss shared with Beumers.

a legacy for posterity

Beumers have worked tirelessly since 2011 to document the stories of 30 contemporary witnesses. These experiences have often not been processed and only come alive again in old age. "It is important that we always work personally for peace and freedom and differentiate ourselves against violence and dictatorship," emphasizes Beumers. His book is not only a document of memory, but also an appeal to society to draw the teachings from history. The new book is available in the Mayersche Bookstore in Heinsberg, in the Lyne von de Berg bookstore in Geilenkirchen and directly from the author.