Der beherzte Reviervorsteher : ungewöhnliche Zivilcourage am Hackeschen Markt

Relates that the "New Synagogue" in the Oranienburger Strasse (Berlin) was saved from destruction in the "Kristallnacht" pogrom through the intervention of the district police chief, Wilhelm Krützfeld. He also warned Jews of their impending arrest, enabling them to escape. With the aid of reminiscences by Krützfeld's sons, some of the Jews he helped, and other survivors, as well as archival sources, reconstructs events during the Nazi period in this district, a center of Berlin Jewish life. Mentions that the Jewish old-age home in the Grosse Hamburger Strasse was turned into a deportation center. Describes aid given Jews by other Gentiles, among them Otto Weidt, who kept 30 Jews (mostly blind or deaf-mute) in his workshop until the "Fabrikaktion" of February 1943. Weidt apparently enjoyed the cooperation of the district police station, which seems to have continued to warn Jews even after Krützfeld was transferred. Deplores East German suppression of memories of the Holocaust. (From the Bibliography of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism)