on the occasion of the forthcoming 12th anniversary of the November 9, 1938, pogrom, Cardinal Konrad von Preysing, Bishop of Berlin, today issued a letter to his diocese recalling that “dreadful day” which marked the beginning of the extermination of Jews in Germany. The reign of terror followed the slaying of Nazi diplomat Ernst vom Rath in Paris by a Jew.
“As you know more than five million Jews were murdered by the previous government,” said the Cardinal’s letter. “It was a crime without parallel. I take this opportunity of speaking about it because time and time again there are symptoms in Germany that racial and national hatred is not yet dead.”
The letter went on: “We are horrified to hear that even the peace of cemeteries has been disturbed. This was done by youth!. What must be the surroundings of such youth if such outrages are possible? We know that many other crimes against humanity are being perpetrated. But this does not free us of an obligation to recall what has been done here by Germans and to make every effort to oppose hatred and fanaticism wherever it occurs. We hope and wish that the wrongs done to millions of people will be righted by compensating those thousands who survived.”
In Dusseldorf, the French High Commissioner in Germany, Francois Poncet, this week-end ordered the establishment of a supreme court for restitution matters for the entire French zone. The court will decide on appeals from decisions of lower courts.
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.
