# UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

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## Kerr, Alfred

EXCERPT
Whoever lets terror rule the street
lets heads roll richly at your feet,
who spews out rage at every lot
"Spill blood and let the Jews all rot!"
He's deemed here--no, I kid you not--
a law-abiding patriot.
-Orakel (Oracle), ca. 1930 (translated by Guy Stern)

WORKS BURNED
All works published before May 1933

SUMMARY
With his unsparing wit, gift for satire, and accurate, learned descriptions, German Jew Alfred (Kempner) Kerr (1867-1948) was one of the most widely read theater critics of the Weimar Republic -- both admired and feared. His columns were carried in some of Germany's leading newspapers and were also anthologized in book form. In these and other journalistic writings Kerr used his talents to debunk the pretensions of Nazi ideology.

When the Nazis came to power, they indexed his books and burned them. In 1933 Kerr and his family fled Germany for London via Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, and France. These years of exile were described, from a child's perspective, by Kerr's daughter in her book When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit.

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