Fred Stein, b. 1928, Berlin, Germany. Immigrated to Australia 1939.

“In 1933, when I was barely five years old, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Regime came to power in Germany. Their antisemitic platform was clearly pronounced. As the years passed, the intolerable humiliation and persecution of all Jewish people became more vicious each day. It began with Jews losing their jobs or being thrown out of universities, hotels, public places, and in 1936 Jewish children were expelled from public schools.

l) Fred Stein as a young boy in Berlin
r) Fred Stein today with wife May

In 1935 I went to a German public school for one year and, being Jewish, I was promptly expelled the following year together with other Jewish children. In 1936 I was enrolled into one of the many Berlin Jewish Day Schools which existed at that time. My school was the Kaiser Strasse Jewish Boys' School located near the well-known Alexander Platz. I went there for nearly three years until I left for Australia.

I travelled quite a long way to school each day. I used to walk along Frankfurter Allee to the UBahn - the subway train station. I got off at Alexander Platz and then walked a short distance to my school. I did this all by myself from the age of eight, in summer and winter - often in morning darkness and in deep snow.

On the early morning of 10th November 1938, I walked in the dark along Frankfurter Alle and saw a broken shop window and another and another and still another. I quickly realised that these plundered shops with broken windows were all Jewish-owned. I became very frightened but went on to catch my train to Kaiser Strasse. On arrival, I immediately saw the smouldering ruins of a magnificent and beautiful old Synagogue which was at the rear of my school.

Berlin's Fasanenstrasse synagogue after Kristallnacht

This was unquestionably the most horrible sight I had ever seen - even to this day! Yes, this was the infamous KRISTALLNACHT (The Night of the Broken Glass) on 9th/10th November when the Nazis destroyed, looted and burned down all synagogues, Jewish shops and schools. The Nazis spared our school from fire because we had a non-Jewish caretaker who lived with his family on the school premises.

Prior to KRISTALLNACHT, I have to confess, that for me as a child, I was often impressed by the pageantry which the Nazis always staged so brilliantly. Especially in 1936 at the famous (or rather infamous) Berlin Olympic Games, the city was decorated with banners and thousands of Nazi and Olympic flags. It was very inspiring but it was not long before even a child could see clearly the real meaning behind the impressive parades, smart uniforms and the display of flags. It soon became a sinister and frightening experience for me.”