On the night of November 9, 1938, the synagogue in Hechingen was completely ravaged inside. Manfred and his friend Martin experienced the pogrom night in Sennfeld.

"We were attacked by an SA platoon, beaten, threatened with arrest and concentration camp. Furnishings, books, etc. were destroyed. ... We fled in small groups to various towns and stayed there for about three months."

Twenty young Jews from the Sennfeld group succeeded in obtaining an entry permit to England. They owed this to a member of the British Embassy in Berlin, who issued them visas against the prevailing regulations, and to a Jewish lawyer in Stuttgart, who somehow managed to dispel the Gestapo's last reservations. On March 7, 1939, the group landed in England and kept in touch with each other there.