I heard the shrill screeches of men, women, and children running around outside. I peeked out through the thin, worn-down curtains of our humble apartment and looked out to see chaos covering the streets and shops surrounding our home. Tall important-looking men were marching down the street with their guns ready on their shoulders. They had faces as hard as stone, full of determination. People were scattered everywhere. The soldiers kept pushing their way through the town, not waiting for anyone who was in their way. A small child raced across the street in an attempt to reach her mother on the other side and got caught up in the mob of men. The child did not reappear. Terror raced up my spine. What was happening? I was a 14 year old Jewish girl. Mother wasn’t home yet. It was only Kristin and me, alone.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. I jumped at the sound from our own door. My hands shook as I reached up to the lock and slowly pulled open the door. My mother rushed in, her face as pale and thin as paper. My stiff shoulders relaxed at the sight of her.
“Get Kristin,” she said in a harsh voice.

“What’s going on?” I pleaded in fear, my voice cracking.

“Just go get Kristin right now,” she ordered with no explanation. She began packing bread and a few apples in a worn cloth.
I gave up the question and raced into the only other bedroom where my 7 year old sister was peering out the window at the frightening scene below.

“Kristin, come now!” I demanded.

She jumped to her feet and rushed to my side in a shaky hug, her face crinkled with concern and fear. She was scared out of her mind. We rushed into the main room where mother was gathering up our coats and any blankets she could find.

“What’s happening?” Kristin asked.

“It’s the Nazi’s,” Mother said, her voice grave and full of concern. “We have to go now.”

Terror washed over my fragile limbs as reality struck me. They were here. I thought they would never reach Leverkusen. We had to get out now. I had heard of what the Nazi’s were like. We were in serious danger, and we had to get somewhere safe right then.

“Where’s Papa?” Kristin asked with concern.

Mother didn’t answer. She continued to pack anything she could find that they needed.

“Mother, will he be okay?” she repeated.

“I don’t know,” mother answered, her voice shaky with fear.

She reached out to take Kristin’s thin hand and pulled her into a soft hug, comforting her youngest child’s uncontrollable fears.
She wrapped her arm around me and whispered in my ear, “Liese, I need you to be strong. I need your help. Can you promise to take care of Kristin no matter what happens to me?”
My mouth was dry and my eyes were on the verge of tears. My voice would not work.
Mother asked again, piercing me with her steal blue eyes, “Liese, can you promise me?”
I finally found the strength in my voice, “Yes mother.”
She grabbed both of us together into another tight hug and breathed, “I love you both so much.”
The sweet embrace could only last for a moment, though. We rushed outside the front door into the chilly night air. The wind bit at my rosy cheeks. I pulled my shawl tighter around me. I looked down from the steep stairs of our top-floor apartment to see the usually quiet town of Leverkusen that was chaotic with people running everywhere. Down the road, at the little button shop, Nazi’s with large guns were thrashing at its windows and door to get inside. They broke through and ransacked the store, casting thousands of buttons onto the floor. They lit the place up in a flare of flames. Other stores along the street that I used to walk peacefully from school every day were torn down in shambles. My bottom lip trembled at the sight of my home.

Mother rushed us down the stairs of our apartment. We reached the street and raced along the sidewalk, scattered with debris. We passed by burning buildings and stores, crumbling on their fragile frames. My mother held fast to Kristin’s and my hands with an iron grip. She pulled us along with her. Kristin’s small legs were barely able to keep up. Her scraggly brown hair waved behind her, shining in the glow of the blazing fires around us that lit up the night.

We reached our humble church house, where many others were gathered. We crowded near each other to protect the opening of our precious Jewish sanctuary. Inside, many of our leaders were scrambling around to salvage anything they could carry. The Nazi’s were on their way. Before we knew it, the Nazi’s surrounded the building yelling in protest against all of us Jews standing in front of our church. They plowed through the people, knocking down anyone who had the strength to stand up against them. They reached the beautiful glass windows on the front of our church that shined in the flames of fires around them. The ends of the Nazi’s guns hit the smooth surface. The beautiful stain-glass pictures glittered into a thousand crystals that shattered like stars in the night sky. I cried out in despair as the beauties of the colors in the clear windows were shattered across the ground like twinkling gems. Tears sprang to my eyes. What were these people doing to us? I felt like collapsing to the ground and sitting there forever, blocking out the world around me. I had to stay strong though, like mother’s promise, or be trampled by the cruel world around me.

It wasn’t safe here anymore. We had to get somewhere else. Mother pulled us through the crowd. We broke through the mass of people. We raced across the street and followed the road. We tore along it until our lungs were about to collapse inside our already thin bodies. Fear and adrenaline pumped through my veins to keep me moving.

The shops began to be dotted less and less along the side of our route. It seemed like hours before we changed courses. We wandered onto the frozen grass off the dirt road we had been following. We continued on a skinny path down into the thick trees of the forest. We could see our cold breath hanging in the chilly night air. My limbs trembled and felt as heavy as bricks. Eager to take a rest, we found a clearing where we fell to the ground, exhausted. Fatigue overtook my body, but my mind was still racing. Where would we go now? We were forced away from our home, our town, and our lives. Where was father? Was he safe? I was lost and confused. We had been cheated of our freedom, and had no place to go. This was only a start to what the Nazi’s did to my family and me. I learned later, that this night, would someday be named Kristallnacht, or “Night of Broken Glass.” I did not know what to expect at the time. Little did I know that I had a perilous life before me, just around the corner, as a future witness of the Holocaust.