The 25th anniversary of Crystal Night, the night of terror in 1938 when Nazis roamed cities in Germany and Austria burning synagogues and beating and killing Jews, was observed throughout West Germany this weekend by memorial services for the Jewish victims of the Nazi holocaust.
The German Evangelical Church held special services at Dachau, site of the infamous concentration camp, where church leaders announced plans to build a church on the site dedicated to German repentance for the crimes committed there. Similar services were held at the site of the Flossenburg concentration camp.
In a message addressed to the country’s Jewish community, West German Chancellor Ludwig Erhard said that, while nobody could make reparations for the crimes of Crystal Night, the anniversary observance should “strengthen our will to make certain that freedom and the worth of the individual are defended as the supreme value.”
Newspapers throughout West Germany carried lengthy articles in connection with the anniversary of Crystal Night. Die Welt, leading German weekly, noted that the anniversary coincided with the publication of the document submitted to the Ecumenical Council refuting Jewish guilt for Christ’s death.
Addressing the dedication ceremonies of the new Hannover Synagogue, Dr. Hendrik George Van Dam, secretary-general of the Central Council of the Jews in Germany, said that Jewish hopes for the future in Germany have grown. He stressed that there were greater prospects for harmonious living together with the Germans, and for more German understanding for Jewish fellow citizens.
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.
