Tag #157023 - Interview #79438 (Hillel Kempler)

The communists who lived in our neighborhood knew my father. There were also communists during this time that defected to the Nazis. Many thought my father was a communist. That’s why one day in April, shortly after the horrible event with the Süssapfel’s, my father was searched by the Nazis in the middle of the night. They pounded on the door. Mrs. Heinz, the doorman’s wife, heard it. She immediately knew what was happening. Mrs. Heinz was Christian. We had a very good relationship with her. My father often gave her cake as a gift. My father often gave the communists cake as well. He wanted good relationships and was a very likeable man. Mrs. Heinz ran very quickly from the backdoor of the courtyard to my father’s bakery and yelled: Mr. Kempler, Mr. Kempler, come quick! Then she put my father into her wood cellar and let the Nazis in.

She said: I don’t know where Mr. Kempler is, I haven’t seen him since midday. The Nazis stormed the bakery and cried: where is the Jew, where is the communist! They turned over all the tables and broke the machines and the furniture. Mrs. Heinz stood by and acted as though she didn’t know where my father was. The Nazis left after slapping Mrs. Heinz twice across the face. My father stayed in the basement for the whole night.