Posted in: Anti-Semitism, Holocaust
Published on Nov 09, 2018 by Chayya Syal
Kristallnacht: Lights left on to mark 80th anniversary
Synagogues and homes across the world will "leave a light
on" from Friday to Saturday night to mark the 80th anniversary of
Kristallnacht.
Kristallnacht
is one of the major turning points in European Jewish history.
Between
9 and 10 November 1938, more than 1,400 synagogues and prayer rooms, thousands
of Jewish-owned homes, hospitals, shops and cemeteries were damaged or
destroyed across Nazi Germany and Austria.
At
least 91 Jewish people were killed and an estimated 30,000 Jewish men were
arrested and sent to concentration camps at Dachau, Buchenwald and
Sachsenhausen.
This
year the anniversary falls on the Sabbath, a Jewish holy day on which
practising Jews observe a day of rest. This involves customs and laws which include
not using electricity.
But to commemorate
Kristallnacht, also known as Night of the Broken Glass, Jewish people are being
encouraged to keep a light burning all night.
Eli
Ballon is the Administrator and Beadle of the New West End Synagogue (NWES) in
London.
"At
the NWES, we will be leaving the Friday evening prayer-room lights and memorial
tree lights on," he explained.
"We are also
asking congregants to leave a light on overnight on Friday night in their homes
to similarly remember this tragedy.
"May
the only shattered glass we hear from this point forwards be the sound of glass
breaking underfoot by grooms at their Jewish weddings."
Thomas Lundmark from
Skelleftea in Sweden will be lighting a memorial candle. He said: "I am
doing it as a way to give my love and respect in remembrance to all the victims
and their families of Kristallnacht."
Lily
Smythe is from London and she is leaving a light on to remember those who
didn't have a chance to do so in freedom and security.
"I'm
doing this in memory of the Jewish lives lost, and in honour of the spirit of
strength and courage which ensures that my people will never be defeated."
Dr Phyllis Chesler is
an author and academic from New York. She explained why she would be leaving a
light on:
"Jews
are commanded to answer evil with good, bring light and enlightenment where
there is darkness and shine a light on evil-doing and to seek justice."
Joachim
Yakov Scheinemann is from Cologne in Germany and is also lighting a memorial
candle. But in Germany, the official term for the night is
"Pogromnacht" or "Reichspogromnacht".
"Kristallnacht is
a belittlement of what happened," he explained.
"It
is also referred to as 'Reichspogromnacht' to mark the nationwide pogroms and
loss of life."
For
many, the events of Kristallnacht are regarded as being the first step in the
run-up to the horrors of the Holocaust.
The US Holocaust
Memorial Museum estimates that one-point-one million people died at Auschwitz
alone, including nearly one million Jews.
The
camp is thought to have had the highest number of deaths of all the
concentration camps in Europe.
Between
1933 and 1945, six million Jews had been killed under Nazi Germany rule.
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