ran 2.6 miles
On this day in history, the event known as “Kristallnacht”, or “Night of Broken Glass”, ravaged the streets of Germany and Austria in 1938. German Nazis seized upon a campaign of terror against Jewish people. Their homes and businesses were targeted and the night was named for the endless amounts of windows framed in Jewish-owned establishments that were shattered. The violence continued through November 10, leaving approximately 100 Jews dead, 7,500 businesses damaged and hundreds of synagogues, homes, schools and graveyards vandalized. Nearly 30,000 Jewish men were arrested, sent to concentration camps and held captive for months until they promised to leave Germany.
This tragic event was the catalyst that sparked the Holocaust. The Nazis leveraged the murder of a low-level German diplomat, Ernst vom Rath, as a means to launch a campaign of terror intended to purge Germany of its Jewish population. Ernst vom Rath was shot by a seventeen-year-old Polish Jew, Herschel Grynszpan, who wanted revenge for his parents’ sudden and unexplained deportation from Germany to Poland, along with tens of thousands of other Polish Jews.
Nazi propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, made heavy of the incident and ordered German troops to impose violent riots disguised as “Spontaneous demonstrations” against Jewish citizens. Local police and fire departments were ordered not to interfere.
Over 100,000 Jews fled Germany after Kristallnacht. The international community was outraged by the inhumane and criminal events of November 9 and 10, causing some countries to break all diplomatic relations with Germany. The Nazis were unaffected by the world’s response and as a result an estimated 6 million European Jews died.
This is not a day in American history but it is a day in world history that no nation should ever forget or repeat. My grandfather was in Germany during World War II and when I hold and see some of the objects he brought home with him, and look at pictures of his experiences, it is overwhelming and impossible to grasp the severity of that travesty in sane and explainable terms.
This day in history reminds me of a quote, which resonates with the idea of respecting and standing up for the principle of individualism and freedom regardless of whether persecution directly affects you personally or not.
“First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.”
The more active and the more often people speak up and express themselves the more difficult it is for any source of power to manipulate or take advantage of individuals' freedoms.
1.888.2 miles to go.
On this day in history, the event known as “Kristallnacht”, or “Night of Broken Glass”, ravaged the streets of Germany and Austria in 1938. German Nazis seized upon a campaign of terror against Jewish people. Their homes and businesses were targeted and the night was named for the endless amounts of windows framed in Jewish-owned establishments that were shattered. The violence continued through November 10, leaving approximately 100 Jews dead, 7,500 businesses damaged and hundreds of synagogues, homes, schools and graveyards vandalized. Nearly 30,000 Jewish men were arrested, sent to concentration camps and held captive for months until they promised to leave Germany.
This tragic event was the catalyst that sparked the Holocaust. The Nazis leveraged the murder of a low-level German diplomat, Ernst vom Rath, as a means to launch a campaign of terror intended to purge Germany of its Jewish population. Ernst vom Rath was shot by a seventeen-year-old Polish Jew, Herschel Grynszpan, who wanted revenge for his parents’ sudden and unexplained deportation from Germany to Poland, along with tens of thousands of other Polish Jews.
Nazi propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, made heavy of the incident and ordered German troops to impose violent riots disguised as “Spontaneous demonstrations” against Jewish citizens. Local police and fire departments were ordered not to interfere.
Over 100,000 Jews fled Germany after Kristallnacht. The international community was outraged by the inhumane and criminal events of November 9 and 10, causing some countries to break all diplomatic relations with Germany. The Nazis were unaffected by the world’s response and as a result an estimated 6 million European Jews died.
This is not a day in American history but it is a day in world history that no nation should ever forget or repeat. My grandfather was in Germany during World War II and when I hold and see some of the objects he brought home with him, and look at pictures of his experiences, it is overwhelming and impossible to grasp the severity of that travesty in sane and explainable terms.
This day in history reminds me of a quote, which resonates with the idea of respecting and standing up for the principle of individualism and freedom regardless of whether persecution directly affects you personally or not.
“First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.”
Pastor Niemoller
The more active and the more often people speak up and express themselves the more difficult it is for any source of power to manipulate or take advantage of individuals' freedoms.
1.888.2 miles to go.
