04 November 2008
Seventy years ago on the night of November 9-10, 1938, the Nazis unleashed a series of riots against the Jews in Germany and Austria. In the space of a few hours, thousands of synagogues and Jewish owned businesses were damaged or destroyed. Scores of Jews were killed, and thousands more sent to concentration camps. The event came to be called Kristallnacht, or Night of Broken Glass for the shattered windowpanes that covered German streets.
On Sunday, November 9, 2008, Yad Vashem will mark 70 years since Kristallnacht. At 10:30, in the Yad Vashem Auditorium, an event held in partnership with the Association of Israelis of Central European Origin will take place with the participation of Holocaust survivors, the German and Austrian Ambassadors to Israel, a representative of Aktion S?hnezeichen Friendensdienste (Ot Kapara), and a special lecture by Academic Advisor to Yad Vashem Prof Yehuda Bauer on the Holocaust and the State of Israel. The program in the Auditorium will be followed by a Memorial Ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance.
A new online exhibition, It Came From Within...70 Years Since Kristallnacht has been uploaded to www.yadvashem.org. The exhibition features testimonies, images, historical information, and Pages of Testimony containing the names and stories of some of the Jews who died during Kristallnacht - some were murdered by the Nazis, and some took their own lives in despair.
On November 9-10, Yad Vashem will hold a Professional Development Seminar for Teachers from EU Member States, in Vienna for graduates of its educational seminars. Some 20 educators who have attended intensive seminars at the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem, will participate in the two-day event, titled, "Kristallnacht Pogrom: Examining the Year 1938 from the perspective of 21st century.” The seminar is being held in an effort to promote Holocaust education awareness and respect for fundamental rights in the EU. It is being organized jointly by the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, and the Fundamental Rights Agency of the European Union, and held within the framework of the ICHEIC Program for Holocaust Education in Europe at Yad Vashem.
Schedule of the event at Yad Vashem:
10:30: Event in the Auditorium
Remarks: Natan Eitan, Director General of Yad Vashem
H.E. Dr. Harald Kindermann, German Ambassador to Israel
H.E. Mag. Michael Rendi, Austrian Ambassador to Israel
Reuven Merhav, Chairman of the Association of Israelis of Central European Origin
Ella Enzmann representative of the Aktion Sühnezeichen Friendensdienste (Ot Kapara)
Keynote: Prof. Yehuda Bauer, Academic Advisor to Yad Vashem, “The Holocaust and the State of Israel”
12:00: Memorial Ceremony: Hall of Remembrance
12:30: Tour of “My Homeland: Holocaust Survivors in Israel”, Yad Vashem Exhibitions Pavilion
The event is open to the press in coordination with Media Relations Department:
02 644 3410.
Contact: Estee Yaari / Foreign Media Liaison / Yad Vashem
