Kristallnacht witness urges police to know their history
George Shefi, 94, shared his memories of the 1938 pogroms with German officers marking the 88th anniversary of the Night of Broken Glass.
By Noor Phillips ·
More than 1,400 synagogues were targeted by arsonists during Kristallnacht, according to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial. The Nazi-led pogrom in Germany and Austria also resulted in the death of at least 91 people and the vandalism of 7,500 Jewish businesses.
George Shefi was six years old on Nov. 9, 1938, when the violence began. His mother kept him indoors for three days. Upon returning outside, he found his Jewish school, located inside a Berlin synagogue, had been burned down. The Jewish hat store across from his home had been looted, and the windows of the neighboring stationery shop were smashed. Shefi recalled that the shop owner attempted to clean the debris while a crowd of 30 to 50 people yelled and jeered at him.
Shefi, now 94 and living in Jerusalem, returned to Berlin to mark the 88th anniversary of the events. He visited the Schoeneberg district where he grew up and sat on a park bench where Jewish children were once barred from sitting. He now speaks to school groups and government officials to ensure the history of the Holocaust remains documented. He noted that while he once held resentment toward Germans, he now focuses on educating younger generations so they can prevent future persecution.
"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," Shefi said. "And for that, if you don't know the history of the Holocaust, you can't prevent it anymore."
The German Police Union organized a session for officers to better understand Jewish life and the role of the police during the Third Reich. Jochen Kopelke, the union's chairman, stated that many officers lack knowledge of contemporary Jewish life. He emphasized that police in the Nazi era guarded concentration camps and deported people. "All policemen have to know the history of the police," Kopelke said. "And that's why today you have to bring policemen to the real world in addition to the historical process."
Phyllis Greenberg Heideman, president of the International March of the Living, described Holocaust education as the most important act individuals can take to combat rising antisemitism. Shefi believes his testimony is urgent because his generation is the last one able to describe events firsthand without facing skepticism. "My generation is the last generation that can tell what happened without anybody saying that's not true," he said.
Shefi was placed on a Kindertransport to England in July 1939 at age seven. He was separated from his mother, Marie Spiegelglas, who was murdered at Auschwitz in 1943. He later immigrated to the United States before settling in Jerusalem, where he raised a family, operated a tool shop, and served as a volunteer police officer.
