Eye-witness accounts taken immediately following the state-sanctioned campaign of hatred against Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe on the 9/10 November 1938 have been translated for the first time to mark the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass) and the launch of the theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2009: Stand up to Hatred
In a joint project between the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT) and The Wiener Library, diary extracts, eye-witness accounts and letters have been converted into English for the first time. All of them were recorded by Alfred Wiener and his colleagues who sought to record the wide-spread programme of hatred that was taking place.
More than 300 reports of the infamous campaign of hatred were collected in the immediate aftermath of the events themselves, between November 1938 and January 1939 (Wiener Library Doc 1375). The translations reveal tales of vigilante violence, arrests, vandalism and fear.
One letter tells of the anguish suffered by the victims: “I can’t tell you how many tears I shed, we are destitute, we don’t even have the most basic clothing, we can’t even go out into the street.” Another account recalls the conditions arrested Jews were held in: “Women aged between 50 – 55 were made to strip naked and dance for the men imprisoned with them… Sick women were obliged to answer the call of nature in public… I could continue this report for hours.”
Wiener Library Director, Ben Barkow explains: “The Wiener Library’s eyewitness accounts of the November Pogrom of 1938 are a unique record of an unprecedented assault on the Jewish communities of a modern European nation. The hatred unleashed that night found its ultimate expression in the Holocaust. The historical importance of these testaments is matched by their contemporary relevance.
“They offer a potent warning of where state-sponsored discrimination and popular hatred of the ‘outsider’ can lead. These reports from an age of darkness should alert us all to the need to resist hatred wherever and whenever it targets innocent victims.”
The ten witness extracts have been translated from The Wiener Library’s extensive records to remind the public of the extremes that can occur if acts of hatred go unchecked. For Holocaust Memorial Day 2009, on 27 January, the British public will be urged to Stand up to Hatred and to react to all discrimination, bullying, persecution and use of hateful language.
HMDT Chair, Dr Stephen Smith MBE said: “While Britain today is not Nazi Germany, bullying, persecution and discrimination are still prevalent and we want everyone to recognise what can happen if they are left unchecked. 50,000 hate crimes were reported to the police in the UK in 2006, but estimates put the true figure closer to 260,000.
“In fact, 712 individual hate crimes take place every single day of the year. Every time a shop window is broken because of the nationality of the owner, every time graffiti is sprayed on a place of worship, every time someone is verbally abused for being different – a hate crime has been committed.”
All ten transcripts are available for download on the HMDT Website
You can also listen to an undated account and an account from 20th November 1938
For further information, please contact Ali McInerney at Geronimo Communications on 020 7216 8800 or email ali.mcinerney@geronimocommunications.com
