Berthold Guthmann , born in 1893 in Eich , studied law in Freiburg and Gießen before volunteering for military service in the Imperial German Army after the outbreak of the First World War , as did his two brothers . His brother Sally was killed in action at Verdun while his other brother , Eduard , survived the war and latter emigrated to the United States . After joining the Luftstreitkräfte , the Imperial German Air Service , Guthmann became an observer and gunner and was awarded the Iron Cross Second Class for his bravery , serving in the '' Schutzstaffel 3 '' and attaining the rank of a Leutnant of the '' Landwehr '' . After the war Guthmann became an attorney in Wiesbaden , Hesse , the city having had a sizeable Jewish community of 2,700 when the Nazis came to power in 1933 . He was arrested and briefly sent to Buchenwald concentration camp after the Kristallnacht . Released from there , Guthmann and his son Paul were assaulted and badly injured in November 1939 . Guthmann served as the secular leader of the Wiesbaden community from 1938 to 1942 and was also second in charge of the Frankfurt Jewish congregation in the last month prior to its forced dissolution . In 1940 Guthmann successfully appealed to Hermann Göring , himself a former World War I pilot , on behalf of fellow Jewish flying ace Fritz Beckhardt , allowing the latter to escape Nazi Germany
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
Berthold Guthmann