The factual account of the occurrences at Huenfeld according to the official report of
the Huenfeld Police District II of November 12, 1938 reads verbatim as follows:
Re: Incidents of Political Nature during the time of November 9 to November 10, 1938
On Nov.9,1938, after I attended the commemorative ceremony at the ”Gesellenhaus”, remembering the fallen of
11.09.1923, I went on patrol and traffic duty within the city, due to a radio message, which stated that reinforcements
of a motorized police unit from Fulda was about to arrive. Furthermore it was to be feared, that riots directed against
the Jews, as they already happened in other towns, might happen here as well. After I reported for duty at 21:15hrs I
first went to the Synagogue. There I realized that almost all the windows had been smashed. From there I was called to
the phone at city hall. At city hall I learned that the Synagogues in the neighboring towns were on fire. The way buildings
were structured locally, a fire at the Synagogue would endanger the barn of the blacksmith Karl Henkel, which was
adjacent to the Synagogue, and stacked with hey and bales of straw. On the other side, just at a distance of about two
meters, there was a building, in which according to my knowledge 6000 kilogram of grain was being stored. Therefore I
decided to direct my attention especially to the Synagogue. After that I stayed close to the Synagogue. There everything
was calm.
At about 2:30am I went on patrol through town with the night watchman. While doing so we detected that at the Jew
Israel Weinberg’s house -residence- at Brunnenstrasse all the windows had been smashed. The identity of perpetrators
could not be established. At approximately 4:00am the ‘Police Inspector Commandant’ from Burghaun and police
officers A., D., and D. came back. Afterwards I drove to Rasdorf together with the Inspector Commandant and police
officer D. We were back in Huenfeld at about 5:00am. Even at that time Huenfeld was a quiet area. According to the
radio message metioned, the patrol duty of the motorized police unit was supposed to have ended at 5:00am, and so I
went to bed, since I realized that everything was quiet in Huenfeld. At 8:00am on Nov. 10, 1938 the ‘Police Inspector
Commandant’ of Huenfeld informed me that the Synagogue was on fire. I immediately went to the fire. When I arrived
at the fire about 8:15am the roof and the whole interior was ablaze in flames.
At the site I controlled the traffic and started to investigate the cause of the fire. The investigation did not produce a lead.
In the meantime members of the SA and the party had admitted to the police station the following Jews:
Julius Nussbaum, Israel Weinberg, Joseph Strauss, Mayer Bimstein (correct: Bienstein, the editor), and Würzburger.
I took these men according to § 15 PVG into protective custody, since it was to be feard, that otherwise they might be
mistreated. The cause of the fire of the Synagogue and the damage done to Weinberg’s house resulted, according to my
opinion, from public anger about the assassination of a member of the German Embassy in Paris by a Jew. Further
rioting did not occur in Huenfeld.
Questioning about firearms the Jew Nussbaum indicated that he was in possession of a revolver. About the place where
he kept the revolver he wasn’t certain. On Nov.11, 1938 I requested from Nussbaum’s wife to look for the revolver.
She found it in a desk. I took the firearm, and I submit it together with the ammunition and this report. The gun was
loaded with 5 shells.
Of the above mentioned Jews, Würzburger and Strauss fell sick. On orders of MD R., Würzburger was admitted to the
hospital in Huenfeld. Strauss is, according to the medical officer, not transportable. The remaining Jews have been
delivered to the State Police Department in Kassel via collective transport.
W.
Police First Sergeant
It has to be added, that at the time of the fire the shoemaker Meier Bienstein and his wife, Sophie lived in the
Synagogue building, thus their apartment and the whole furnishing went up in flames also.