metro >> on the cover Broken Glass from page 8 Luckily, she was released three hours later. In spring 1939, he and his parents were allowed to leave Austria. Growe's older brother, Peter, had escaped to England on the Kindertransport and later lived on a kibbutz near Haifa. The Grosz family made the 30-day voy- age to Shanghai, joining Growe's Uncle Conrad Schwarz. "You didn't need papers [to immigrate to China]. We could bring $10 each, and even a little jewelry:' Growe said. The family arrived in Detroit in 1948. Stella's brother, Paul Selby (last name changed) had come 10 years earlier. After serving in the Korean War, Growe studied a year at Wayne University. He opened a women's apparel store, Fashion Center, on 12th Street in Detroit, later mov- ing to Warren. He operated in Ferndale from 1973 until his retirement in 2005. A former B'nai B'rith vice president, Growe belongs to the Vienna Club and does aerobic exercise twice a week at the Birmingham YMCA. He and his wife Rachel (Wohl) have four children, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Alfred Zydower, 83, of Madison Heights Born Nov. 15, 1929, Alfred Zydower grew up in Furstenwalde, 20 miles outside Berlin. He and his parents, Hugo and Alfred Erna (Plack), younger Zydower sister Anna and Aunt Rosalie lived in the build- ing Erna inherited. Hugo traded horses and animal fur pelts. The town had "20 Jewish families at the time of Kristallnacht, and maybe 40-50 families had left earlier; Zydower said. The morning of Nov. 10, someone at the corner bakery "told my mother there was a fire in the chapel at the Jewish cemetery," Zydower said. Mentioning the caretaker who lived with his family in the synagogue, the non-Jew said, "'They have been arrested already, and you will be, too."' At Zydower's school, where "the children knew I was not Catholic:' some of his class- mates talked about the police chasing them the night before. "I asked my teacher if I can go home. She said, 'But you are safe now:" but allowed him to leave. When the Gestapo showed up to arrest Hugo, "Mother wanted to give him a clean shirt, but they said he would be coming back:' Zydower said. A Nazi caretaker was installed at their building, and now "people wouldn't pay us rent anymore; they paid the Nazi caretaker:' Zydower said. "He told my mother when my father came home, we'd have to leave. We didn't know where Dad was, and we needed money. Mother sold our porcelain dishes, but only a few pieces at a time 10 November 7 • 2013 Jh Commemorating Kristallnacht • Congregation T'chiyah in Oak Park will observe the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 9. Alvin and Harriet Saperstein will lead the service; personal reflections by Prof. Alfred Schwarz. Noon Kiddush. tichiyahorg@gmail.com , (248) 542-0900. • The book From Kristallnacht to Watergate: Memoirs of a Newspaperman (Excelsior Editions). Harry Rosenfeld, Metropolitan editor at the Washington Post during Watergate, writes about experiencing Kristallnacht in his native Berlin. • Refuge: Stories of the Selfhelp Home. Ethan Bensinger's documentary film is focused on six survivors of the Holocaust and Kristallnacht living at the Selfhelp Home in Chicago. More than 1,000 victims of Nazi persecution have received services and shelter at the residential community. Check local list- ings for show times on public television station WTVS (Channel 56). Zydower also watched his mother sell his very expensive toys, including an electric railroad and tricycle. A soldier bought his rocking horse that looked like a real foal for 10 marks, just a fraction of what it was worth. "That money lasted only a few weeks:' he recalled. Released in January 1939 from Sachsenhausen concentration camp, Hugo did slave labor in the town. "He had to report to the Gestapo at 6 each evening and say: 'The Jew is still here' Zydower said. "Sometimes I'd go with him:' On May 1, 1939, the Zydowers were evicted and moved to another family's "Jew house" nearby, packed with mothers and children. The Zydowers planned to leave Germany in mid-September, "but we got stuck there when the war broke out on Sept. 1," Zydower said. The next year, they joined family already in Shanghai. Upon arriving in San Francisco in 1948, the Joint Distribution Committee arranged for their resettlement in Detroit. His father became a butcher. Zydower worked at Hudson Motor Car Company, Dodge Main and finally as a Fred Sanders candy maker for 27 years. Zydower, whose hobby is classic films, never married. "I took care of my mother, who died in Madison Heights at age 99 and 3 months and 3 days:' His father died in Detroit in 1962; he was 62. Anna Lindemann of Oak Park, Zydower's sister, has two daughters, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. "She and the children are very good to me he said. Martin Lowenberg, 85, of Southfield A speaker at the HMC, Martin Lowenberg, born in 1928, was one of seven children of Klara (Rothschild) and Sally Lowenberg. Martin They lived in the vil- Lowenberg lage of Schenklengsfeld, Germany, home to Jewish families since the early 17th century. Sally sold products to farmers at Lowenberg Feed & Seed Supply, founded by his grandfather, Osher. "We had a good living before Nazis burned down our house and business in 1933 — they destroyed everything; Martin Lowenberg said. While rebuilding, kind neighbors gave them shelter and food. His oldest siblings were continually harassed and humiliated before leaving in 1934 for a kibbutz in Palestine. The same year, the rest of the family moved into a new house and Klara gave birth to twin boys, Fritz and Kurt. Life got worse for the Lowenbergs in 1934-35. His father gave up the business because his non-Jewish customers got threats not to buy from him. Lowenberg was in eighth grade when his teacher brought the entire school together to celebrate Hitler's birthday on April 20, 1936. "I was accosted by the older boys; they spit in my face and beat me," he said. Lowenberg's teacher grabbed him off the floor and pushed him onto a board covered with nails. "That actually happened," he said. "The teacher accused me of sticking out my tongue at Hitler's picture hanging on the classroom wall and, therefore, he wanted to punish me. It was my last day of German public school in my hometown:' Lowenberg's parents sent him to a Jewish boarding school, Bad Nauheim. Although the children were treated well, they were homesick "The hate in Germany was so prevalent ... yet, we still felt safe at home he said. In 1938, Lowenberg's parents were forced to sell their home "for the lowest price we could get. We had to pay a 'Jew tax' on top of it:' he said. The family moved 60 miles away to Fulda, which had a Jewish school and synagogue. They lived modestly in a tiny apartment. When Lowenberg came home that sum- mer, he joined his parents, the twins and his sister, Eva. Then came Kristallnacht. "On Nov. 9, 1938, while I was sitting in the classroom, learning like any other day, stones and rocks came through the win- dows. The glass was shattered. Three of my fellow classmates were injured very badly, but you couldn't call an ambulance. The teacher dismissed the class. The synagogue next door was in flames. Smoke was coming out of the synagogue. "We were so scared all day lone Lowenberg said. "Outside our windows, we saw Jewish people being dragged from their homes and being beaten in the street. You could see blood in the street "The synagogue was completely destroyed and the school was ransacked. The fire department was told not to touch the burn- ing synagogue and other Jewish properties. The next morning, we heard the windows of shops being destroyed and heard screaming in the middle of the street. The crowds were unbelievable:' After his family returned to their apart- ment from a neighbor's, Lowenberg said, "We heard heavy footsteps coming up the stairs and pounding on our door. My father answered the door; he tried to push me back. A Nazi soldier and a policeman asked my father to come with them. He refused, said he was a German officer in the First World War and picked up the Iron Cross he had earned for bravery. But he had no choice but to go with them:' Sally and other men in their community were taken to Buchenwald German con- centration camp. "Fortunately, he was released after one month, whereas others did not come back for a year and some never returned to their families:' Lowenberg said. His parents and the twins, age 9, per- ished at the Auschwitz death camp in 1943, but he and Eva survived and entered the U.S. three years later. In the 1950s, their siblings Berta and Hans, who had gone to Palestine, joined them. Another sister, Margot, who escaped Germany in 1937 is 93 and residing in California. Lowenberg lived in New York, Akron, Grand Rapids and Dayton before his St. Louis-based company brought him to Detroit in 1964 as its vice president of sales for institutional textiles. "After I had to retire due to health reasons, I became involved with mak- ing Judaica," said Lowenberg, who is an accomplished metal artist. He and his wife Carol (Warshay), origi- nally from Cincinnati, have three daugh- ters, 14 grandchildren, one great-grand- daughter and another on the way. ❑ Photos and biographical details pertaining to interviewees Martin Lowenberg, Alfred Zydower and Charles Growe can be accessed at "Portraits of Honor: Our Michigan Holocaust Survivors," an interactive exhibit at the HMC, and also online at www.portraitsofhonor.org . Portraits of Honor was originated by Charles Silow, Ph.D., director of Program for Holocaust Survivors and Families, a service of Jewish Senior Life.