Kristallnacht: International March of the Living issues statement, testimonies of Jews afraid again
(NEW YORK) – Marking 85 years since the Kristallnacht pogrom, the International March of the Living today released testimonies of Holocaust survivors from around the world expressing how they feel afraid as Jews and calling for immediate help in fighting the recent surge in antisemitism. The survivors, whose testimonies were collected since the Hamas terrorist attack of October 7, say the brutal attack echoed the horrors they witnessed during the Holocaust.
Businesses and properties owned by Jews were the target of vicious Nazi mobs during a night of vandalism that is known as “Kristallnacht”. (Photo by © Bettmann/CORBIS/Bettmann Archive)
Kristallnacht, also known as the November Pogrom, began on the evening of November 9, 1938. Throughout the long night and into the next day, Nazi paramilitary forces, along with German civilians, burned and vandalized over 1,400 Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues. They also murdered 91 Jews and arrested 30,000 Jewish men, sending them to concentration camps. Kristallnacht marked a turning point in the Nazi persecution of the Jews.
This week also marks 30 days since the horrific Hamas terror attack on Israel, where terrorists killed 1400 people, mostly civilians, and took over 240 hostages, among them children and elderly men and women.
Israel’s subsequent war against Hamas has resulted in a wave of severe antisemitism around the world – a sharp rise of over 500% antisemitic attacks on Jews and Jewish communities has been reported globally. These waves of antisemitism have includes physical violence, calls to kill Jews, using Nazi Germany rhetoric, and intimidation of young Jews on campuses and of Jews in the streets.
In response to these events, Holocaust survivors have asked March of the Living to share their voices.
The testimonies powerfully underscore the gravity of the current situation. These survivors bear witness to the profound and deeply disturbing parallels between the past and present, making it clear that the world must stand together to combat hatred, discrimination, and violence wherever they occur.
Many of the survivors, out of fear for their own safety, were initially hesitant to speak out, worried that revealing their identities could place them in immediate danger.
An Israeli man attempts to put out a burning vehicle in Ashkelon in southern Israel.during the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7. (Photo by Flash90)
“We were all horrified by the sheer intensity of hatred and the murderous violence of the terrorist organization Hamas,” International March of the Living chair Dr. Shmuel Rosenman and president Phyllis Greenberg Heideman said in a joint statement issued today. “The fact that Jews, children, women, elderly and men, entire families, were burned alive in their homes, in their beds, 85 years after the Kristallnacht pogrom is simply unimaginable. The world has clearly not learned the lessons of the Holocaust,” they pointed out.
“Pure evil has once again been revealed before our very eyes in all its might. Beheadings, rape, abuse of living people and corpses; cruelty and barbarism on par with the Nazis. At the same time, we are similarly concerned and outraged by the rising antisemitism in the world in recent weeks and we call on the heads of state to take it seriously. Jews are once again being attacked all over the world,” the statement continued.
“This cannot be tolerated. As an educational organization, our mission to educate against hatred and antisemitism is now more important than ever,” they concluded.
