Western Europe, where Nazism rose to power and left its bloody imprint on human history, is preparing to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the night of Nov. 9-10, 1938, when the first organized pogrom occurred in the Third Reich.
French, Italian, Belgian and Dutch television have programmed special series on the subject. Jewish communities in all the major cities on the continent will gather to recall the official start of the anti-Jewish terror, the historic precursor of the Holocaust.
The most elaborate memorials will take place in the two Germanys: The West German Federal Republic, which since the end of the war has formally atoned for Nazi crimes; and the East German Democratic German Republic, whose Communist regime traditionally has disclaimed responsibility.
It was therefore a break with the past when the East German Parliament scheduled a special commemorative meeting for Nov. 8, to be followed by a mass meeting in the center of East Berlin.
On Nov. 10, the cornerstone of a new synagogue will be laid in East Berlin, at the site of the famous Oranienburgerstrasse synagogue, a Reform temple that was desecrated on Kristallnacht and bombed during the war.
The East German authorities have invited 50 leaders of American Reform Judaism to participate in the ceremony and in other Kristallnacht memorial events.
West Germany has scheduled concerts, theater programs, mass meetings and exhibitions on the subject of Kristallnacht. There will also be television specials, to help remind Germans of the heavy burden of the past they must bear.
The main event will be in Frankfurt, which 50 years ago was the center of the largest Jewish community in pre-war Germany.
Richard von Weizsacker, president of the Federal Republic, and Chancellor Helmut Kohl will attend memorial services at the city’s main synagogue.
They will attend the inauguration of a new Jewish museum the following day. Other events will take place in West Berlin, Munich and Bonn, and at the site of the former Dachau concentration camp.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
