KRISTALLNACHT – THE NOVEMBER 1938 POGROMS

The is a picture of the gutted shell of the Berlin Synagogue after it was burned by the NAZIS exactly 70 years ago on the night of November 9-10, 1938. Pretty soon the NAZIS would burn up all the Jews, too.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum reminds people that tonite is the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, which is considered the beginning of the Jewish Holocaust:

Seventy years ago, on November 9–10, 1938, the Nazis staged vicious pogroms—state sanctioned, anti-Jewish riots—against the Jewish community of Germany. These came to be known as Kristallnacht (now commonly translated as “Night of Broken Glass”), a reference to the untold numbers of broken windows of synagogues, Jewish-owned stores, community centers, and homes plundered and destroyed during the pogroms. Encouraged by the Nazi regime, the rioters burned or destroyed 267 synagogues, vandalized or looted 7,500 Jewish businesses, and killed at least 91 Jewish people. They also damaged many Jewish cemeteries, hospitals, schools, and homes as police and fire brigades stood aside. Kristallnacht was a turning point in history. The pogroms marked an intensification of Nazi anti-Jewish policy that would culminate in the Holocaust—the systematic, state-sponsored murder of Jews. [See the site for more information.]

The police and fire department stood aside. Luckily, our police and firemen try to save us when terrorists like the American Indian Movement, the Weather Underground, or Al Qaeda attack us.