Passover in 1938 On the Eve of Kristallnacht

An order form for Passover 1938.

At first glance, it seems like a trivial piece of paper: a 1938 Passover order form from the Hermann Rieder grocery store in Mannheim. Customers could check off everything they needed: sugar, tea, chocolate, matzos, wine, and even kosher soap. At the top of the form, it reads in Hebrew: “Kosher for Passover,” followed by a German line noting it was the only grocery store in town under rabbinical supervision.

In 1938, Passover fell in April—just a few months before Kristallnacht. That November, Germany saw an eruption of antisemitic violence: synagogues were set on fire, Jewish businesses looted, and people deported.

The Hermann Rieder store must have played a central role in Mannheim’s Jewish community. It supplied families with everything they needed for a ritually pure Passover meal at a time when Jewish life was increasingly under siege.

The business was led at the time by Cecile (Cilli) Daube (née Cohn, 1893–1986). She was married to David Daube, who did not survive the war; he likely died in an institution in 1940, possibly murdered by the Nazis.

Cilli, however, managed to escape with her daughter Eva. They fled via the Gurs camp in southern France and reached the United States in 1941. There, Cilli remarried to fellow German émigré Henry Zatzkis and started a new life. Her grandson, Lanny Zatzkis, mentions her in his bestselling memoir My Life Journey.

This form, then, is more than just a shopping list. It is a rare and poignant trace of Jewish life on the brink of destruction. Cilli Daube survived the war; her store did not. But as long as this paper endures, this Jewish life will be remembered.

Explore the full collection of rare pre-war German-Jewish business flyers, each a testament to lives lived, businesses run, and traditions upheld in the shadow of catastrophe.