In Alzey, Herbert was not quite 6 years old when he started school in 1933.
He was the only Jewish child in the Nibelungen School.
The first two years still passed without any major problems for him.
Later he recalled:

„From the third grade on, all the classmates went after me at recess because they wanted to punish me for being Jewish. ... Every day I came back with bruises all over my body."

His teacher ignored him in class and did not protect him from the abuse. Herbert was desperate.