94-Year-Old Berlin Survivor Returns for Kristallnacht

George Shefi was six years old on Nov. 9, 1938, when his mother kept him indoors for three days to hide him from the chaos unfolding in Berlin. When he was finally allowed to step outside, the Jewish school inside a local synagogue had been burned down. The hat store across the street had been looted, and the windows of the stationery shop next door were shattered. Shefi, now 94 and a resident of Jerusalem, returned to the German capital 88 years later to recount these memories as a witness to one of the last living survivors of Kristallnacht.

He stood in the Schoeneberg district, the neighborhood where he grew up, and described the scene to those around him. He recalled the Jewish shop owner 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 ordinary Germans terrorize Jews across Germany and Austria. According to Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, at least 91 people died, 7,500 Jewish businesses were vandalized, and more than 1,400 synagogues were targeted by arsonists.

Shefi’s return coincides with Germany marking the 88th anniversary of the anti-Jewish pogroms. He shared his story with visiting police officers who are there to deepen their understanding of the Holocaust and their duty to protect Jewish communities. Jochen Kopelke, chairman of the German Police Union, joined Shefi for the visit. Kopelke stated that many officers in Germany lack knowledge about contemporary Jewish life. He noted that police during the Nazi era actively participated in the Shoah, guarded concentration camps, and deported people. "All policemen have to know the history of the police," Kopelke said, emphasizing the need to connect officers to the real world and historical process.

For Shefi, the night marked the end of his sheltered childhood. In July 1939, at age seven, his mother Marie Spiegelglas placed him on a Kindertransport to England alongside 300 other Jewish children to save him from persecution. He never saw her again. She was deported to Auschwitz and murdered in 1943. Shefi lived with several foster families in Britain and survived the German bombing of London during World War II. He later immigrated to the United States before moving to Israel, where he settled in Jerusalem.

In Jerusalem, Shefi raised a family, ran a tool shop, and served as a volunteer police officer. He now speaks to school groups and other Germans about the lessons of his life. He said he used to hate the Germans like a regular Holocaust survivor but changed his perspective about 10 years ago. He realized that children today could not be blamed for events that happened 80 years ago. "You have to learn and study it because you aren't responsible for what was, but you'll be responsible in five, 10 years of what's going to happen," he said.

Phyllis Greenberg Heideman, president of the International March of the Living, said Holocaust education is essential to combating rising antisemitism. The group organizes an annual remembrance event at Auschwitz and supports efforts to combat hatred of Jews. "It's daunting, it's difficult, and it's the most important act any one of us can do," Heideman said, referring to the fight against antisemitism and other forms of hatred. Shefi views his role as increasingly urgent as his generation fades. "My generation is the last generation that can tell what happened without anybody saying that's not true," he said.