Flames pouring out of a synagogue in Siegen, Germany, during Kristallnacht, November 9/10, 1938
On November 9, Yad Vashem held a special event marking 71 years since the Kristallnacht pogrom. Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council, addressed the people in the Yad Vashem Synagogue. The Yad Vashem Synagogue contains Judaica from destroyed synagogues of Europe.
About Kristallnacht
On November 9, 1938, the Nazis unleashed a series of riots against the Jews in Germany and Austria. In the space of a few hours, thousands of synagogues and Jewish businesses and homes were damaged or destroyed. For the first time, tens of thousands of Jews were sent to concentration camps simply because they were Jewish. The event came to be called Kristallnacht (“Night of the Broken Glass”) for the shattered windowpanes that covered German streets.
Also marking Kristallnacht, a unique online exhibition, It Came From Within offers information about this pivotal event and includes video testimonies of survivors, archival photographs and Pages of Testimony, all offering first-hand information and insights into the destruction and suffering inflicted on the Jews of Germany and Austria 71 years ago.
