As recollected by Yitzhak Sophoni Herz
– then the teacher and Vize director of the Neustrasse Orphanage -.

It was the morning of 10 th November 1938. Loud ringing at the door. I opened the door. About fifty SA men stormed in to commence, with almost scientific thoroughness, destroying the premises. The awful, fear-laden screams of the children echoed through the hallways. We could only observe how – in front of the eyes of the police – the entire inventory was demolished. We heard at intervals the smashing of glass and window panes, or the hammering against furniture, books, benches tables beds or the piano. A large wireless, wall-maps etc flew through gaps in the walls which had only moments previously been windows or doors.

Police officers ordered me to gather all the children, young and old as well as the staff, together for a march through the centre of Dinslaken. This news spread as a bushfire through the town's streets. The citizens of Dinslaken crowded onto the pavements, three or even four rows deep, in anticipation of this Jewish procession. The small children were made to sit in a cart which was pulled by four older boys, boarders. We were driven into a schoolyard close to the Dinslaken synagogue. Some Jews, who had previously managed to evade capture or deportation to a concentration camp, now joined us. They told me how the brown hordes had forced them from their houses. They had been ordered to leave everything and go immediately.

We were all forced into a small schoolroom. Nobody was allowed to leave this room. The able-bodied men were called for after some minutes – for enforced labour. From the men, only those sixty – some as old as seventy-five remained. We soon learned that those under sixty had been sent to Dachau. A policeman admitted to me that many of these, prior to being sent to Dachau, were mishandled by the SA. They had been kicked, beaten and made to suffer various types of humiliation. I was told to make a list of all those left in the school. That took some time, there were many interruptions. A lady became unconscious, another demanded water, yet another complained of extreme headaches. The retired Jewish teacher of Dinslaken – a dignified old gentleman – sat groaning in a corner. His head was covered with bleeding wounds, dealt to him by the Nazis. I was able to bring him some water, in an old envelope, which I had ‘stolen' from a tap in the corridor during an unobserved moment. Suddenly all became quiet. A peak-capped Nazi wearing civilian clothes entered the foyer. This Party representative held a brief and mocking address: “People, I wish to state that the cattle from the Jewish orphanage have been taken under the care of a German farmer. We have instructed him to give the beasts good fodder, for beasts should not suffer.”