Gedenkfeier beim Besuch der Hünfelder Juden - Hünfelder Zeitung vom 11.9.1989


November 10, 1988 was the 50th anniversary of the so called ‘Reichskristallnacht’ (Crystal Night), which also marks the date on which Burghaun’s synagogue was set on fire and destroyed. On occasion of this event many commemoration ceremonies were conducted and memorials consecrated. It was my firm conviction that it was high time for our community after all these years to put up a special plaque to honor the memory of the venerable congregation of the Synagogue and her victims during the Shoah. After the local political factions caught on to my idea and promoted the realization, mayor Braun consecrated on July 10, 1994 an appropriate bronze plaque at Burghaun’s castle yard.
However, before this consecration could take place I had to do quite some convincing. Part of this process was my immersing myself into a lengthy search for the tracks of Burghaun’s Jewish citizens. The result of my prolonged research was first documented in an exhibition and later on turned into the publishing of a book.
The first Jewish witness whom I personally met in 1989 was Frederick M. Browning from New York, who was born in 1919 in Burghaun as Manfred Braunschweiger. Repeatedly over the years has he been visiting his old home town and the grave sites of his father David and his grandparents Braunschweiger  at the local Jewish cemetery, and as recently as March 2004 he, his wife Hansi and their three daughters had been visiting.
Manfred Braunschweiger’s life story is so astounding that I decided to publish and present it as a work in its own right.
 

                                                                                                                    Burghaun May 2004                                   
                                                                                                                    Elisabeth Sternberg-Siebert