By Thea Hinck
Frank Tuerkheimer’s family, like many German Jews, didn’t think that Adolph Hitler’s anti-Semitism would go beyond talk.
Tuerkheimer’s own father was a decorated German war veteran, integrated into German society. He could not imagine his home country would turn on him, but it did. He was arrested and deported to a concentration camp like many Jewish men from his town in 1939.
His wife saved him. She located the train that her husband was on and begged the S.S. officer to release him by showing him her husband’s war medals. During the following weeks, Tuerkheimer’s parents arranged to escape to the United States.
Tuerkheimer, now a UW-Madison emeritus law professor, told the story during a presentation in the Washburn Heritage Room at Edgewood College on Oct. 4. The lecture, “Kristallnachat: Understanding a Key Event leading up to the Holocaust,” was part of the COR 2 class Jewish-Christian Dialogue in the 21st Century, open to any member of the Edgewood community.
The class is taught by Professor Rebecca Meier-Rao and adjunct faculty member Steven Olson.
Students from the class read excerpts from Forgotten Trials of the Holocaust, a book co-written by Tuerkheimer, who has devoted part of his life to educating the public on the pre-Holocaust and the Holocaust. He practices law in Madison.
“I wonder what lessons we might learn from what happened before, during, and after Kristallnacht as we face virulent rhetoric toward vulnerable populations today,” Meier-Rao said in her introduction to the lecture.
The lecture provided insights into Kristallnacht – two nights of rampaging mobs attacking Jews in November 1938. Tuerkheimer shared his family’s connections to the Holocaust, including his dad’s deportation to a concentration camp.
Tuerkheimer spoke about the rise of Hitler and the Nuremberg laws in 1935, which deprived Jews of German citizenship. German authorities sent the Jews to refugee camps.
One of the families living in the refugee camp was the Grynszpan family, whose son Herschel lived in Paris. He was “tremendously upset at what was happening to his parents,” according to Tuerkheimer.
Herschel walked into the German Embassy in Paris with a revolver, intending to shoot the Ambassador. Instead, he shot a diplomat who had no connection to anti-Semitism.
The German government used this killing of the diplomat by a Jew to incite the destruction of Jewish property and the murder of Jews. This destruction is known as Kristallnacht.
Edgewood college student Emma Schaeffer said she thought that “going to this event…[would] improve our understanding of…whose families may have been affected by Kristallnach and other incidents in life.”
Tuerkheimer referenced Hitler’s speech in January 1939, which was broadcast nationally. In blaming the Jews for World War I and a possible World War II, Hitler promised “…the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe,” Tuerkheimer said.
Tuerkheimer said education on these topics and historical events “…is essential because the last thing we want is anything approaching a repetition of what occurred back then.”
One attendee, a 1969 Edgewood alum, said the event was an “excellent lecture” that should act as a “reminder to all of us [about] what happens when intolerance and hatred take over and become the norm… Let’s hope and pray that this history never repeats itself.”
Post your comments