Recently, we received by email this Letter to the Editor from The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation and thought it worth sharing here:
Letter to the Editor:
70th anniversary of Reichspogromnacht
November 9th marks the 70th anniversary of Reichspogromnacht, not Kristallnacht.
On the 70th anniversary we call on the international community to cease using the Nazi’s terminology for such a grave event. Kristallnacht, broken glass, is used to make little of what befell the Jews of Germany and Austria on these days. We must recognize that there were a lot more broken than glass.
On November 9 and 10, 1938, Jewish homes and shops were ransacked and synagogues destroyed. Jews were forced to pay for the damages inflicted upon them. Many were tortured in the streets and as many as 30,000 were sent to concentration camps and never to return.
Let us commemorate the 9th and 10th of November and honor those who suffered by ceasing to use the Nazi term for the event. Let’s begin to call it what it really was – Reichspogromnacht – a notoriously grave pogrom against the Jewish people of Germany and Austria.
Pastor Annemarie Werner, Berlin
Baruch Tenembaum, New York
