Fred Flatow was just ten years old when Nazis burned down his synagogue in Königsberg, Germany, during the violent riot known as Kristallnacht

Fred Flatow was just ten years old when Nazis burned down his synagogue in Königsberg, Germany, during the violent riot known as Kristallnacht—the "Night of Broken Glass”—in November 1938.

Kristallnacht was the culmination of anti-Jewish harassment and violence that followed Fred throughout his childhood. Just a few years before, Fred had been subjected to antisemitic bullying by his non-Jewish classmates at a German public school. The synagogue became a refuge for Fred after he transferred to a Jewish school there.

After Kristallnacht, Fred squeezed through a hole in the fence next to the destroyed synagogue and visited the ruins.

“Why I went [back], I cannot recall,” Fred reflected. “It was maybe to say goodbye to the synagogue that had been such a home to us … . One day when I was in there, I found a small children's Torah.”

In the summer of 1939, Fred’s father, Erich, had a close call: one of his employees framed and denounced him to Gestapo.

The Gestapo officer gave Erich a deadline to organize the family’s emigration from Germany. With help from Königsberg’s Jewish community, the Flatow family arranged to immigrate to Chile.

Fred and his family left Europe in October 1939, nearly one year after Kristallnacht, and arrived in Chile six weeks later.

Despite most of his possessions being left behind in Germany, 11-year-old Fred managed to bring to Chile the small Torah scroll he had rescued. Throughout Fred's life, it served as an important reminder of his time in Königsberg.

Photo 1: Fred Flatow Identification Card, 1939. Courtesy of Fred Flatow and Ruth Shapiro

Photo 2: Fred Flatow holding found Torah, 2018. Leigh Vogel for USHMM

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