Rudolf Sinsheimer @museum.de

During the pogrom of March 25, 1933, Rudolf Sinsheimer was also badly ill-treated. The anxiety and concern about her husband led to the death of his wife Peppi that same day. Nevertheless, Rudolf stayed in Creglingen. Even when his brother Joseph in New York offered to sponsor him, he was not willing to leave Germany.

He‘d fought for Germany in World War One and felt a profound connection to his homeland.

But his life became more and more difficult. In 1936, he moved to live with his daughter in Stuttgart and then fled to France. It was 1941 before Sinsheimer made it to the States by a risky, circuitous route. His passport, which is littered with stamps, provides an impressive illustration.

His baggage consisted of a small leather suitcase containing the absolute essentials.

So what were the absolute essentials? For Rudolf Sinsheimer, two things above all.

His cross of merit for frontline fighters in World War One. This was awarded in December 1934, in the name of the Führer and Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler – in other words, after his mistreatment on March 25, 1933, and after the persecution of the Jews had begun.

And a piece of cloth that shows German soldiers of the Jewish faith during a Yom Kippur service outside Metz – a scene from the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 to ‘71.

Rudolf Sinsheimer was like many of his compatriots: the Jews driven out of Nazi Germany in the 1930s regarded themselves as Germans, first and foremost.

In feeling that way, he was probably not much different from the other victims of the pogrom. If you’d like to find out more about the people who were mistreated on March 25, take a look at the blue book on your left, a few steps beyond the showcase.