Summary of Leonard Gross's The Last Jews in Berlin

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

#1 Fritz Croner was a German Jew who had grown up in a small German town. He was the richest young man in town, and he loved nothing more than to gun the motorcycle over the rutted roads of the tiny villages.

#2 Fritz’s German identity was not simply based on his birthright, but on historical fact. Deutsch-Krone, his birthplace, was in the northeast corner of Germany, not far from the Polish border. There were 300 Jews in and around Deutsch-Krone, out of a population of 12,000. They were totally comfortable and accepted without question in all aspects of community life.

#3 By 1932, it was clear that more and more members of the community were beginning to support the Nazis. The Protestants had a greater tendency to affiliate with the Nazis than the Catholics.

#4 In 1937, Fritz began making jewelry to trade in Berlin. He was not part of the action in Berlin, but he was still affected by theCrystal Night, when Nazis burned the synagogues and looted the Jewish shops.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Apr 19, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669387107

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Insights on Leonard Gross's The Last Jews in Berlin

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

Fritz Croner was a German Jew who had grown up in a small German town. He was the richest young man in town, and he loved nothing more than to gun the motorcycle over the rutted roads of the tiny villages.

#2

Fritz’s German identity was not simply based on his birthright, but on historical fact. Deutsch-Krone, his birthplace, was in the northeast corner of Germany, not far from the Polish border. There were 300 Jews in and around Deutsch-Krone, out of a population of 12,000. They were totally comfortable and accepted without question in all aspects of community life.

#3

By 1932, it was clear that more and more members of the community were beginning to support the Nazis. The Protestants had a greater tendency to affiliate with the Nazis than the Catholics.

#4

In 1937, Fritz began making jewelry to trade in Berlin. He was not part of the action in Berlin, but he was still affected by theCrystal Night, when Nazis burned the synagogues and looted the Jewish shops.

#5

The Croners had been determined never to leave Germany, but they were eventually forced to emigrate. They had been told that their applications for emigration to Palestine had been approved, but they had been refunded their passage money when they realized that they would not be allowed to emigrate.

#6

In January 1942, Jews were ordered to surrender all their winter coats, warm clothing, and blankets, which were then shipped to German troops at the Russian front. By early 1942, all Jewish households were required to post Stars of David on their doors.

#7

On September 19, 1941, the Nazis ordered all Jews to wear a Star of David on their clothes. Fritz and his wife, Marlitt, were fine with this, as they had plans to go underground. One day in December 1941, a policeman came to their apartment and said that an anonymous informant had denounced them for not wearing their stars.

#8

The next step was to find a place for Fritz and his family to hide. He informed his parents and uncle that he, Marlitt, and the baby were going underground. They were horrified. They couldn’t imagine living without the papers that were as essential to life in Nazi Germany as food.

#9

Fritz was able to find a flat in Wilmersdorf, a central residential district in Berlin. The flat had been