Travellers in the Third Reich: The Rise of Fascism Through the Eyes of Everyday People

by Julia Boyd

Tétaz first became aware of the horror when, on 10 November, he drove past a burnt-out synagogue in Bayreuth. A happy, excited crowd looked on as firemen extracted charred furniture from the smouldering ruins. He had spent the previous night with Jewish friends in Nuremberg. It had been a civilised occasion, with music and wine. His elderly host had lost an eye and a leg in the Great War and been awarded the Iron Cross classes I and II. Worried about his friends, Tétaz turned his car around and drove straight back to Nuremberg. When he reached their house on the northern outskirts of the city, a scene of utter destruction confronted him. Doors torn off their hinges, furniture strewn all over the garden and taps left running. The magnificent Steinway that Tétaz had played only hours earlier had been smashed to pieces with an axe. Every painting had been slashed. The wife emerged covered in bruises. Her husband had been taken to hospital but died the next day.