Hamburg, 9 November 1938, 23h55: the local Gestapo-headquarters receives a telegram from Berlin. “There will be Reich-wide actions against Jews… these shall not be disturbed”, it says.
It is the start to a devastation and extermination campaign, in which 91 persons are killed and more than 25,000 Jewish citizens arrested throughout the Reich. SA- and SS-troops set synagogues on fire, deface houses, storefronts and smash shop windows – which is why this campaign is cynically called “Reichskristallnacht” (Night of the Broken Glass).
The November pogrom was planned over a long time in advance. The assault by a 17 year old Jew on a German diplomat in Paris only served as a pretence to reverse action and reaction, perpetrator and victim – and to write about “national comrades in justified outrage”.
Timeline General
- 4 February: As part of his preparations for war, Hitler reshuffles his cabinet and appoints himself as chief commander of the Wehrmacht.
- 13 March: One day after German troops have marched into Austria, Hitler lets announce a law on the “Anschluß” (annexation) to the German Reich.
- July: All Jewish businesses must be labelled and Jewish citizens compulsorily adopt Sara or Israel as second forename. As of October, a red “J” is stamped on their passports.
- 29 September: At the Munich conference, the Western powers agree to a cession of the Sudetenland to the German Reich in order to prevent a war against Czechoslovakia.
Timeline Hamburg
- 1 April: The Senate of Hamburg is eventually dissolved and the constitution of the city repealed.
- 3 September: The SS purchases a defunct brick factory in Neuengamme (South East of Hamburg) where it opens a satellite camp of KZ Sachsenhausen.
- 11 November: The exhibition Degenerated Arts, first shown in Munich, attracts huge numbers of visitors.
Timeline Persons
- 20 June: The members of FC St. Pauli re-elect Wilhelm Koch as “club leader”. His election is officially approved.
- 1938: The Hitler Youth in Hamburg is subdivided into 10 “Banne” (units). Of the 12 Gefolgschaften (subunits) of “Bann 424 Hamburg-Hafen”, eleven are affiliated to FC St. Pauli. For them, “Bannfachwart” Walter Koehler is the functionary in charge.
- 1938/39: Herbert Müller is promoted to the FC St. Pauli league team, as a substitute at first.
- 1938: The authority for the building sector, employer to Otto Wolff, begins to systematically expropriate the remaining 2,043 real properties still owned by Jewish citizens.