On Kristallnacht , an anti-Semitic pogrom that took place on the night of November 9 , 1938 and resulted in the destruction of hundreds of synagogues and the deaths of 91 Jews , Trepp was arrested and placed in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp , where he was held as one of as many as 30,000 Jews who were arrested and held in prison camps by the Nazis . In the wake of Jews being detained and dying , Trepp saw his role as being part of " a very rewarding rabbinate because the Jews needed me " . He recalled the inmates being called out in Sachsenhausen at 4:00 in the morning , seeing the guard towers manned with soldiers holding machine guns and being told " You are the dregs of humanity . I do n't see why you should live " . He told God that he was prepared to die , but was overcome with the feeling that " God was with me . I know God was there . In the concentration camp with me . And it was the worst place for it . That 's why it was the best . " Trepp was released from Sachsenhausen after 18 days of incarceration through the intervention of the Joseph Herman Hertz , the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom &mdash; under the condition that he and his wife had two weeks to leave the country . He went first to England and then to the United States in 1940 . He ultimately moved to Northern California , where he led three congregations , Beth Shalom Napa , California , including Beth Ami in Santa Rosa , California and Beth El in Berkeley
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
Leo Trepp