In 1933 the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service was passed removing all non-Aryan professors from their profession , with the exemption of those who had fought in World War I . This exemption allowed Klemperer to continue in his position a little longer , although without the right to use the University library or other faculty privileges . However Klemperer was gradually forced out of his job and forced to retire . Although he was allowed to keep part of his pension , the money quickly ran out and he and his wife had to take cleaning jobs . The couple lost their right to drive and had to sell their car , and their housekeeper had to resign due to the law against Jews employing Aryan women . Eventually the Klemperers were forced to put down their household cat , a tomcat named Muschel , because of a restriction as to Jews ' ownership of pets . One of the Nazi laws forced every Jewish female or male to add Sarah or Israel , respectively , as a middle name on all official documents . ( Klemperer removed the " Israel , " a mandate so typical of the Nazi regime , the minute he could safely do so . ) That same year , and subsequently , Klemperer was so dismayed with the spread of antisemitism , even among those who professed to be against the Nazis , that he from time to time entertained the possibility of fleeing to the US . A later diary entry — for April 10 , 1940 — records other problems with emigration : " Meeting with the emigration adviser of the Jewish Community , result less than zero : You really must get out — we see no possibility . American-Jewish committees support only observant Jews . " But in the end his connection to his fatherland was too strong , even after Kristallnacht in November 1938 , and the outbreak of war . During the pogrom later in November 1938 their house was searched by Nazis who found Klemperer 's saber from World War I — he was arrested briefly and released . By this time he had come to concede that " No one can take my Germanness away from me , but my nationalism and patriotism are gone forever . " Although the day after his arrest he wrote to his brother Georg asking for assistance in leaving Germany , in the end he did not do so
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
Victor Klemperer