“Memory and Warning: A Kristallnacht Commemoration” by Julia W. Rath

Kristallnacht, or the “Night of Broken Glass,” was a coordinated Nazi attack on Jewish communities across Germany and Austria on November 9–10, 1938, resulting in the destruction of synagogues, homes, and businesses. Ninety-one Jews were killed, and around 30,000 Jewish men were arrested. This violent pogrom marked a significant escalation in Nazi persecution of Jews and is widely seen as a turning point in Holocaust history. Eighty-seven years after that tragic event, a thoughtful commemoration was held by the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center at Temple Am Shalom, in Glencoe. The evening featured a candle lighting ceremony which memorialized all those who had died in the Holocaust and honored the children of Holocaust survivors and their families. There were also several speakers on the program.

The keynote address was given by Dr. Timothy Snyder, one of the leading historians of our era. He made it clear that any implicit comparison between Germany then and the United States now would be in our own minds: He was simply going to talk about the past. Briefly, Snyder’s lecture focused on the statelessness of the Jews who once lived in Germany, with the flip side of this being what it means to be an undocumented person. He explained how the year 1938 was not only important because of what happened on Kristallnacht itself but what it led to—and what it subsequently allowed the Germans to do—beginning with mass deportations and the creation of stateless people and zones.

Not only did the Jews in Germany lose their citizenship status due to racial restrictions, but many did not have (or no longer had) any documentation. For example, many Jews who lived in Germany had Polish passports, but over time, passports held by Jews were no longer being recognized by Poland. And in October 1938 (that is, before Kristallnacht), 17,000 German Jews with Polish passports were forcibly deported by the SS in one day—and dropped off at the Polish border. These were people who thought of themselves as Germans: where life in Germany and the German language and culture were the only things that they ever knew. When neither Germany nor Poland wanted to acknowledge these deported individuals, they literally became “the disappeared.” These stateless Jews were now considered criminals and, without passports, there was nowhere for them to go. And most of them were killed during the Holocaust.

It was interesting to learn that 60,000 Austrian Jews suddenly had no status after the Anschluss (the annexation of Austria to Germany in March 1938), whereas previously they were considered citizens of Austria. Then with the invasion of Poland by Germany as well as subsequent incursions into Czechoslovakia and later Russia, the Jews who lived in these countries were no longer being recognized as citizens, meaning that the state no longer offered any sort of protection to these people. The consolidation of German oppression largely occurred at the same time that many people were being denied papers. For Snyder, as horrible as Kristallnacht was, with its screams and broken glass, there were even more people targeted during this same time period whose “voices we can’t hear.” And we don’t have names or records for them.

Opening remarks were offered by Kelley Szany, Senior Vice-President of Education and Exhibitions at the museum, who actually made the comparison between what happened in Germany in the 1930s to what’s happening to undocumented immigrants—largely Hispanics—today. She explained what can occur when “democracy is dismantled from within” and when the dehumanization of people goes unchecked. “When people are called invaders, intruders, parasites, and vermin, then the thinkable becomes unthinkable.”

Other speakers included Rob Romanoff, who spoke on behalf of Michael Ahrens, the Consul General of Germany to the Midwest, and Delphine Gamburg, Deputy Consul General of Israel to the Midwest.

The focus of the entire program was what happens when words turn into violence and victimization.

The immediacy and relevance of tonight’s presentation cannot be overstated.