EJP | News | “Kristallnacht” commemoration in Vienna

	Thursday, November 20, 2008 22 Cheshvan, 5769

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“Kristallnacht” commemoration in Vienna

Updated: 13/Nov/2005 20:03

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250 people gathered Wednesday night in Vienna's second district to remember what the Nazis called “Kristallnacht” or “Night of Broken Glass” when Nazis roamed Jewish neighbourhoods in Germany and Austria breaking windows of businesses and homes, burning synagogues, looting and attacking Jews.

The pogrom-like violence marked the beginning of what became an attempt to annihilate the Jewish people.

On 9 November the Nazis and their willing Viennese helpers destroyed 49 synagogues all over Austria, Jews were threatened and intimidated, some committed suicide, 28 were murdered.

More than 12,000 Jewish workshops and 5,000 Jewish shops were robbed and closed.

Lessons Learned

"Vienna presented an extraordinary spectacle with fires raging all over the city and Jews being hustled along the streets, cursed at and assaulted by crowds of hooligans," the British Consul General in Vienna Frank Foley reported in November 1938.

"It is important for me to see young people assuring us that the lessons were learned," said Professor Evelyn Goodman Thau, a lecturer of Jewish philosophy in Berlin and Vienna. She spent the last weeks before 9 November in a flat around the corner, before escaping to Holland on the last train.

Crowds in Synagogue

The organisers of the Kristallnacht commemoration event put together a mixed programme led by "Cafe Critique", a small, vibrant leftwing group of activists who devote themselves to the fight against anti-Semitism by showing solidarity with Israel.

"We have to be aware of current forms of anti-Semitism and hatred against foreigners or "the Other", a young lady called Anna from Hashomer Hatzair youth movement told the crowd. She reminded them of the recent Viennese election campaign in which Hans Christian Strache led the extreme-right Freedom party to a 15 per cent stake of the votes.

"It is important for us to state that the consequence of the Shoah is solidarity with Israel," Cafe Critique's Alexander Gruber told EJP.

The Jewish Community held a two-part event starting in the old Main Hospital of Vienna court, where a small synagogue was reopened a few weeks ago.

A sound installation by young Austrian artists looked at the far-reaching involvement of Austrian universities with the Nazi regime and their part in anti-Semitism.

The second part of the event took place in a crowded synagogue where musician Wolfgang Muthspiel performed and actress Elisabeth Orth read from Zvi Kolitz's work.

Day in history

1945: Germany

The Nuremberg Trials begin. Trials against 24 Nazi war criminals of World War II start at the Nuremberg Palace of Justice.