Kristallnacht to be commemorated
The Sydney Jewish community will commemorate the ‘Night of Broken Glass’ – Kristallnacht – the event which foreshadowed Hitler’s campaign to annihilate the Jewish people.
The event, on Sunday November , is being organised by the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies.
It was marked by a series of coordinated attacks in Germany and Austria on November 9-10, 1938, which caused the death of 91 Jews and the incarceration of 30,000 in concentration camps, marking the beginning of mass deportations of Jews, Roma, LGBT individuals, people with disabilities, and political prisoners.
Vera Weinstein
Throughout the two-day wave of violence, Nazi paramilitaries marched under cover of darkness throughout Germany and Austria, smashing Jewish storefronts, arresting Jewish men en masse, ransacking Jewish homes, burning books and littering the streets with the parchment of sacred Judaic texts. Hundreds of synagogues and thousands of businesses owned by Jews were destroyed or damaged. The Nazis burned books, destroyed sacred objects, and instilled fear into the hearts of millions. The streets were covered with broken glass from the shattered windows of Jewish-owned buildings, stores and synagogues that were vandalized and looted during the attacks.
Gillian Trigg
“Kristallnacht foreshadowed the systematic slaughter of six million Jews and millions of other innocent victims” says NSW Jewish Board of Deputies Shoah Remembrance Committee Chair, Michael Jaku. “Seventy six years later, it signifies the tragic consequences of silence in the face of unmitigated hatred. In marking this anniversary, we recall not only the terrible destruction of Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues and the killing of innocents, but also the desecration of a community and culture that had thrived for centuries. We cannot fully appreciate the magnitude of the Holocaust without understanding what existed before it was destroyed. And Kristallnacht signifies the beginning of that destruction.”
Vivien Gorney will share the Kristallnacht experience of her mother, Vera Wainstein.
The keynote address will be delivered by Australian Human Rights Commission President Gillian Triggs.
The event will be held at NCJW Council House on November 9 at 6.30pm. Inquiries; 9360 1600.
The event takes place on Sunday November 9.