November 11, 1938 – Klaus Langer

The Diary of Klaus Langer 

Klaus Langer was a German-Jewish teenager who began keeping a diary in the years before the onset of World War II in Europe. He started recording his observations much earlier than most Jewish teens, who only came under Nazi rule along with the German occupation during the war. He was one of the few to record a diary entry in the immediate aftermath of the Kristallnacht pogrom of November 9-10, 1938. 

DAMAGE OF KRISTALLNACHT

Klaus began his diary entry on November 11th with a simple description of what had happened before and during the violence of Kristallnacht. He wrote, “The past three days brought significant changes to our lives. On November 7th, a German legation member was assassinated in Paris. He died two days later. The day following, on November 10th, came the consequences. At three o’clock, the synagogue and Jewish youth center were put on fire. Then they began to destroy Jewish businesses. During the morning, private homes were also being demolished.  Fires were started at single homes belonging to Jews. At six-thirty in the morning, the Gestapo came and arrested Father and Mother… Mother returned after about one and a half hours. Dad remained and was put in prison.” 

Klaus went on to describe a great deal more damage that was done to his home, his family and his neighbors. He also made it clear that he did not believe that the danger had fully passed. He wrote about how difficult it was to sleep, not knowing whether or not Nazi thugs would return to wreak more havoc at any moment. He considered the possibility of riding his bicycle to the home of Christian friends in another city, but his mother objected, probably because it was too dangerous for him to travel alone. In truth, no one knew what to do in order to be safe. As Klaus had written, significant changes had come to their lives, but what they would be in the long run, no one knew