Germany remembers Nazi pogroms of 1938 amid renewed fears

The president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, underlined the need for Jews in the country to be able to live freely and without fear.

His comments on Thursday came on the 85th anniversary of the Nazi November pogroms against Germany's Jews — and at a time when antisemitic incidents are once more on the rise.

What the Jewish leader said

Schuster acknowledged that Germany was committed to protecting Jewish life in stark contrast to the Nazi era.

However, he said the community did not want any "protective shields."

"We want to live freely in Germany, our country," he said.

"Anyone who wants to understand why the terrorist attack on Israel also causes deep trauma, fears and insecurity in the Jewish community in Germany stirs deep trauma, fears and insecurities, must be aware of what is happening in Jewish souls even 85 years after the pogrom night when, again, Stars of David are painted on Jewish homes and when Jewish ships are attacked again."

Schuster's speech was part of a memorial event in the Beth Zion Synagogue in central Berlin, which itself was attacked in mid-October by would-be arsonists.

Among the guests present at the event were the German head of state, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and the president of Germany's lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, Bärbel Bas.

No tolerance for antisemitism, says Scholz

Germany has seen a sharp rise in antisemitism after Hamas' brutal attack that killed 1,400 people in Israel on October 7, which triggered an ongoing war in Gaza.

Chancellor Scholz also spoke at the memorial event and said he was "ashamed and outraged" at the recent wave of antisemitic incidents in Germany. He said every form of antisemitism was poisonous to society.

"It shouldn’t matter whether antisemitism is politically motivated or religious, whether it comes from comes from the left or from the right, whether it disguises itself as art or as scientific discourse, whether it has been here for centuries grew or came into the country from outside," Scholz emphasized.

He said the promise "never again" made by Germans after World War II meant the state had a duty to protect Jewish institutions and communities with the consistent enforcement of applicable law.

"We will prosecute anyone who supports terrorism, anyone who incites antisemitic agitation," Scholz said. "We do not tolerate antisemitism."

What happened in the pogroms?

The November Pogroms of 1938 were previously known as Kristallnacht, or the Night of the Broken Glass, a reference to the shattered glass of the many Jewish-owned shops destroyed by the authorities. Those terms, however, are seldom used and regarded as minimizing the tragedy of the pogroms.

On the night, the Nazis killed at least 91 people and vandalized 7,500 Jewish businesses, burning more than 1,400 synagogues, according to Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.

Up to 30,000 Jewish men were arrested, and many were taken to concentration camps such as Dachau or Buchenwald.

Hundreds committed suicide or died because of mistreatment in the camps, years before the beginning of official mass deportations.

The event is seen as a turning point in the escalating persecution of Jews, which would eventually to the murder of 6 million European Jews by the Nazis and their supporters during the Holocaust.

rc/sms (AFP, dpa, epd, KNA)

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