The Night of Broken Glass (Kristallnacht) is one of the darkest pages in world history. On November 9, 1938, more than 1,400 synagogues and Jewish institutions were destroyed and looted by the Nazis in Germany and Austria. At least 91 Jews were killed during the events, and another 26,000 were arrested.
It marked the beginning of the Holocaust.
Eighty-five years have passed since then, and much has changed. Because our world appears different, we thought we had left the Night of Broken Glass behind. We were wrong. Perhaps the best proof of this is that the Star of David has reappeared recently on doors and walls of Jewish homes, demonstrating that the ghosts of the past will continue to haunt us for a long time.
Antisemitic attacks have never ceased to occur in many regions of Europe and the United States. However, since the start of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the number of recorded antisemitic incidents has skyrocketed. Threats, beatings, intimidation, and even murders have been recorded.
What is particularly alarming now, according to various organisations, is that the targets are not just a synagogue or a Jewish centre, as in the past, but ordinary Jewish people.
“I’m not talking about, you know, stores producing IDF T-shirts, I’m talking about a coffee shop on Long Island, an ice cream parlour in the Bay Area, a restaurant in Chicago,” noted the head of the ADL (Anti-Defamation League), Jonathan Greenblatt. He said recent acts have gone beyond “run of the mill” antisemitism in America.
Moreover, in several European countries, the number of antisemitic attacks has tripled since the new flare-up in the Middle East. There are daily reports of assaults and harassment. Many Jews say they have limited their movements, and others stress that they accompany their children everywhere out of fear that something bad might happen to them.
Some experts insist that antisemitism is the oldest and most deeply rooted form of racism in Europe. Therefore, in various crises and social tensions, antisemitic instincts are “awakened,” especially now with the war becoming increasingly brutal.
Once again, it is proven that memory is short-sighted. And ultimately, no, we do not learn from past mistakes. It only takes a short time for even the most terrifying events to be forgotten.
“Never again another Holocaust” was said after World War II. A nice slogan that remained just empty words. Because since then, many more holocausts and genocides have followed.
