As Germany celebrated the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall today, more subdued tributes were held to mark the 71st anniversary of the Nazi’s Kristallnacht anti-Semitic pogrom.
On Kristallnacht – the Night of Broken Glass – at least 91 German Jews were killed, more than 200 shuls were destroyed, and thousands of Jewish businesses vandalized and looted in state sanctioned riots.
In the capital, a special service was being held today at a memorial outside the Jewish Community of Berlin’s building.
Separately, a candlelight service was being held in the evening at Berlin’s Grunewald train station, from which many of the city’s Jews were deported.
The anniversary was also noted at services celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall.
“The memory of the horrible events of the 9th of November, 1938, no less than the memory of the 9th of November, 1989 teach us unequivocally that walls – whether real or in the minds and hearts of the people – solve no problems,” said Robert Zollitsch at a service in Berlin.
On Kristallnacht, police and fire brigades stood aside as rioters attacked synagogues, Jewish-owned stores, community centers and other targets including hospitals and schools.
The pogroms marked an intensification of the Nazi’s anti-Jewish policies that would eventually lead to the murder of some 6 million Jews.
{AP/Seattle Times/Matzav.com Newscenter}
