Annual Gathering Recalls Kristallnacht
KEENE, N.H., 11/1/06 - Keene’s remembrance of Kristallnacht, a 1938 event marking the first case of state-sponsored mass violence against Jews by the Third Reich, will take place at 7 p.m., Thurs., Nov. 9, in the Larracey Auditorium of Keene Middle School. The annual event is free and open to the public.
The program will feature symbolic candle lighting, glass breaking, and short testimonial readings by local citizens. Elaine Broad Ginsberg will conduct the Keene State College chamber singers, who will perform her composition “We Remember Them.” Paula Aarons has choreographed an accompanying dance, which will be performed by the Moving Company. The guest speaker will be Hans Heilbronner, UNH professor emeritus.
On the night of Nov. 9, 1938, a pogrom was orchestrated throughout Germany and Austria by the Third Reich’s Propaganda Ministry and the S.A. (Sturmabteilung or Storm Troops). During this violent night, 91 Jews were killed. In addition, 815 shops, 29 department stores, 171 homes, and 267 synagogues were burned or destroyed. The shattered panes of glass from windows of Jewish buildings gave the pogrom its name: Kristallnacht or “Night of Broken Glass.” In the days immediately following Kristallnacht, approximately 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and taken to the concentration camps of Dachau, Buchenwald, and Sachsenhausen. They were met at the camps with great cruelty at the hands of the SS guards. Kristallnacht would prove to be a watershed for the total removal of Jews from Germany.
The Kristallnacht remembrance is sponsored by Keene State College’s Cohen Center for Holocaust Studies, the KSC Campus Ministry, the Keene Interfaith Clergy Association, the KSC Office of Finance and Planning, Congregation Ahavas Achim, and The Keene Sentinel. In coordination with the Keene Chamber of Commerce, many businesses are expected to display information about both Kristallnacht and the remembrance in their display windows in the days before the event.
