On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany.
Discrimination against Jews began immediately.
On March 21, nazi brown shirts paraded through the main square of Flehingen with chants of “Down with the Jews!” .
John, aged 11, was surprised but not frightened. He had little experience of anti-semitism before this.
In March, members of the SA – the Nazi party paramilitary – launched a series of attacks on Jewish businesses and synagogues.
On April 1, 1933 Hitler declared a national boycott of Jewish businesses.
In response, Willy “put his war metals on and walked in front of his store.” {Erna}
The sign says, “Germans! Defend yourselves! Do not buy from Jews!
In class, John declared that he didn’t like the Nazis and was beaten up by his classmates at recess.
Selma’s nephew, Wilhelm Maier, was pulled off the street, taken to the SS brown house, held for 2 days, tortured & beaten up.
Willy could see what was coming and developed a plan B for the family: he got a Belgian visa good for 2 years on May 18.
Willy returned from the Leipzig trade fair on Sunday September 10, 1933 to find his office ransacked.
An anonymous caller repeatedly warned them to “get out!” Willy recognized the voice – it was a friend from the neighborhood. They arranged to meet in a park. He told them that the secret police had gone to Willy’s office on Friday and wanted to question him.
They packed as many valuables as they could onto a company truck, and picked up John & Margaret who were in Flehingen for the summer.
They crossed the border at Strasbourg, France, despite having some radiator trouble.
My mother was on her knees praying
from the minute they left.
We got a telephone call from them
about 7:00 in the morning, Safe in Saarbrucken …
which was a neutral state between France and Germany.
Safe! So, that’s when my mother got off her knees.
At 8:00 on the radio: “Looking for William Weisburger.”
Every train station, every airport, everything
But they were out.
{Erna}
Back in Stuttgart, Willy ’s brother Leo took care of selling the business and then moved directly to Long Island with his wife Else.
On the street in front of 28 Lerchenstrasse, there is a stumbling stone with the inscription:
Here lived
Ludwig Weissburger
Born in 1905
deported Kovno
1944 Dachau
Murdered 16.2.1945
Stumbling stones are a project of German artist Gunter Demnig, “the largest decentralized memorial in the world, with memorial stones set into the sidewalk “in front of the last freely chosen homes of Nazi victims.”
Ludwig was probably Willy’s young cousin, who perhaps moved into their apartment after the family fled in 1933.
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