SUFFERN – It was 82 years ago that the Germans went wild, destroying Jewish-owned business and setting fire to synagogues en mass. November 9-10, 1938 was known as Kristallnacht – the Night of Broken Glass.”
Each year organizations mark the day with service, and some with reflections who may have been small children living there at the time.
Because of gathering restrictions due to COVID-19, The Holocaust Museum at Rockland Community College produced a poignant video including photos of the destroyed buildings, men being taken away and remarks from Rabbi Joshua Finkelstein of the Montebello Jewish Center. He stood outside at a cemetery noting the significance of Kristallnacht.
“Kristallnacht is what historians call the beginning of the Holocaust. Truth be told, the hate was started many years before and was fanned by many,” he said. But, on November 9, 1938, it broke out, Pogroms throughout Germany and parts of Europe in which stores were destroyed, people were arrested, others were killed, and the fanning hatred that grew into the Holocaust,” he said.
Over the course of the Holocaust in Europe, six million Jews and million of others, were murdered by the Nazis.
