…t his hometown of Frankenwinheim, Germany as a child, several years before Kristallnacht— the Night of Broken Glass. In Frankenwinheim that night, the Nazis built a bonfire in front of the town synagogue and burned its entire contents. The survivor had come to the JFCS Holocaust Center to donate some surviving items to our collection: small silver bells that had once adorned a Torah scroll, two lions that had decorated a breastplate and a two-head…
…nce in understanding how the Nazi persecution of the Jews evolved from the Kristallnacht (“Night of Broken Glass”) pogrom to a full-scale program of extermination. More than one hundred Jews were slaughtered during the night of Nazi violence on Nov. 9 and 10, 1938, with 30,000 Jewish men deported to concentration camps, and hundreds of synagogues, homes, Jewish-owned stores and hospitals incinerated across Germany and Nazi-controlled Austria. Alon…
…dalism and destruction of Jewish-owned businesses, synagogues, and homes. Kristallnacht hit Vienna particularly hard. Some 6,000 Austrian Jews were deported to the camp of Dachau, 27 were murdered, and nearly a hundred synagogues were burned down. It was the latest in several waves of anti-Jewish violence and persecution that had coursed through Austria since the Anschluss—the incorporation of the country into the Third Reich—in March 1938. The p…
…entative for a large liquor company in the south of the country. After the Kristallnacht pogrom in November 1938, Jack was interned in Dachau and released only upon agreeing to leave Germany immediately. The family emigrated in early 1939, sponsored by a great-aunt in California and an uncle in New York. After a short stay in New York, they moved to the west coast. Jack was able to serve as a cantor in San Francisco, where he officiated at special…
…an assault on Judaism. During the infamous 1938 November Pogrom, known as Kristallnacht, non-Jewish citizens throughout Europe burned down over 1,000 synagogues and desecrated countless Torah scrolls. In a more subtle attack, on October 5, 1938 all Jews in Germany were required to have their passports stamped with the red “J”, and this date coincided with Yom Kippur (the day of atonement), the most religious day of the year. In short, before the…
…Otto Schwarz, Carl’s uncle, who was born in Viersen, Germany in 1904. When Kristallnacht unfolded, Otto raced home and jumped over a wall to escape the Nazis. Days later, he returned to look at the wall and realized he could not jump high enough to even get his hands on the top. As Carl recalls, Otto “spent the rest of his life wondering how he got over that wall.” Carl and his brother were like children to Uncle Otto and Aunt Helene. “Otto was on…
…ly relevant to today. Remarks will be by special guest Annemarie Yellin, a Kristallnacht survivor, and Derek Wetmore, a descendant of the survivors of one of the Roth families. A representative from the German Consulate will also offer a special appreciation. The exhibit was provided by the Institute of Holocaust, Genocide and Memory of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. This event is co-sponsored by: The Helen and Joe Farkas Center for the…
…November 6 – 10, 2016 in San Francisco, coinciding with the anniversary of Kristallnacht. Transportation for students and teachers will be provided, and all students will receive a book as part of the multi-disciplinary curriculum. “Our deep commitment to educate about the Holocaust as well as the patterns of genocide inspires students to find moral courage to become strong advocates against discrimination, hatred, and antisemitism,” says Lydia Sh…
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