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NEWS
Events Around the World to Mark 70 Years Since
Kristallnacht
by Yated Ne'eman Staff
Throughout the Jewish world, memorial events were held to
mark 70 years since the infamous pogrom known as
Kristallnacht, during which 91 Jews were killed, over 1,000
botei knesses were torched and 7,500 Jewish-owned
businesses were ransacked and looted. Some 30,000 Jewish men
and children were arrested on the night of the pogrom,
November 9-10, 1938, and sent to camps.
In Germany the main memorial ceremony was held on Sunday at
the reconstructed Rykestrasse Synagogue in East Berlin, where
participants included Chancellor Angela Merkel and the head
of Germany's Central Council of Jews, Charlotte Knobloch, who
lived through the pogrom as a young girl.
During her speech Merkel warned Germans against apathy,
calling it the first step on the way to risking essential
values. "Germany needs a climate that encourages moral
courage," she said. Remembering Kristallnacht through
memorials and ceremonies is not enough, Merkel added, "and we
must always think how all this led to the Holocaust."
The date was also commemorated in other German cities, at
events organized by local Jewish communities, government
bodies and local government authorities, and even churches.
Many events were held in places that no longer have a Jewish
community, such as Forst and Hagenau.
The Histadrut and the Jewish Agency sponsored hundreds of
ceremonies and educational activities throughout Europe and
other countries. In Frankfurt a graduation ceremony was held
for an educational seminar on Kristallnacht for Jewish
students from various European countries. The ceremony was
held in the central square where the Jews were rounded up for
transports to concentration camps during World War II.
Today there are 220,000 people eligible for aliya living in
Germany. Some 90 percent of them are from the former Soviet
Union.
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