This one was closer. I edged to the window and, kneeling on the floor, I lifted a corner of my curtain so I could look out without being seen.

A gang of men were walking down the street. Some dressed in black with heavy boots and big coats, others in the SS uniforms and helmets I’d grown used to seeing on the streets every day.

I had never seen them at night before. They looked like my worst nightmares, multiplied by ten. They looked like an army of darkness coming directly for me. My heart beat so hard I had to clutch my chest to make sure it stayed inside my body.

As the men came closer, I could see they all had armfuls of bricks or large sticks. I watched as they stopped outside a shop doorway halfway up the street. One of them gave a nod to the others and then—

CRASH!

The men threw bricks through the window. Then they slapped each other on the back and moved on. They were getting closer to our house. They didn’t stop at every shop window. Why not?

As soon as I asked myself the question, I knew the answer: they were targeting the shops owned by Jewish people.

Suddenly, Mama was outside my door. ‘Leo. Liebe. Darling boy,’ she whispered.

I dropped the curtain and crept to my door. She opened it and reached out for me. ‘Come,’ she whispered. ‘Stay down.’

Together, we crawled across the landing, crept downstairs and into the hall. Mama silently beckoned me to the door under the stairs. ‘In here,’ she said, gesturing for me to crawl into the cupboard.

A split second’s memory opened in my mind. Playing hide and seek with Elsa and Max. Elsa had hidden in here behind the boxes at the back. Max and I hadn’t been able to find her and had given up in the end.

I hoped the men outside would do the same.

We were about to crawl inside when I heard the back door softly open. My heart stopped with fear – until a familiar face appeared at the end of the hall.

‘We were – at – the – synagogue,’ he said, his words coming out in breathless raspy bursts. ‘Praying. Praying for an end to this. They came. They came to our place of worship. They are destroying every part of us.’

Mama pulled him towards her and hugged him hard. I could see Papa’s shoulders shaking as he sobbed in her arms.

I had never seen him cry. Not once in my whole life.

‘Hush, my love,’ Mama whispered in Papa’s ear as she stroked his hair. ‘They will never destroy us. Never.’

She beckoned to me. ‘Leo, fetch the medicine box. Quickly. Then come back.’

I ran to the kitchen and grabbed the box from a drawer. Mama ushered me and Papa into the cupboard under the stairs.