At a central remembrance ceremony in the Rykestrasse Synagoge in Berlin, the German government and the Central Council of Jews in Germany remembered the terrible events of the Reichskristallnacht in 1938. "We must ensure that antisemitism, racism and anti-foreigner feeling can never again take root," Chancellor Angela Merkel warned.
In the night of 9 to 10 November 1938, SA and SS troops across the country torched synagogues and destroyed the businesses and homes of Jewish citizens. Numerous people were murdered.
Fighting forgetfulness
"1,400 synagogues burned that night in Germany, and soon after that the whole of Europe burned", said the Chancellor in her address. The persecution in this night was the "disaster before the disaster", the event which broke all dams. Germany had set off along a path that was to end in the systematic murder of six million Jews.
The night of 9 to 10 November engendered "violence, destruction and death" and must be a "warning to us and a reminder of our duty", emphasised Charlotte Knobloch, President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany. She was six years old when she fled the madness through the streets of Munich clutching her father’s hand. "We were robbed of every place we had known and loved," she told her audience.
Protecting liberty and human dignity
The flames of 9 November could not be overlooked, yet there was no storm of protest, Angela Merkel stated starkly. A persecuted minority had to watch and see that a silent majority did not have the courage to do anything.
"The totally misplaced belief that we are not affected when something happens to our neighbours leads to disaster," emphasised the Chancellor. We cannot undo the wrongs of the past, but we can learn from them – we can learn to accept responsibility when we see that people are being persecuted.
Human rights are indivisible and form the foundation of every free society. "Anyone who permits any exception, however small, destroys the entire edifice. The very heart of civilisation can be lost," warned the Chancellor. It must not then leave any one of us cold if a Rabbi is insulted or a Jewish cemetery desecrated.
Respect for human dignity is by no means automatic, she continued. It is a "treasure" which must be defended. This is also a test of the ability of politicians to take action. Overall we must develop, "the ability to see the world through other people’s eyes" and we must recognise the benefits of diversity and tolerance, she said.
Our commitment to Israel
Tolerance, however, is always linked to values, the Chancellor underscored. The limits of tolerance are breached, where hatred is preached, prejudices fanned and violence and terrorism accepted. We cannot accept the threat posed to the state of Israel by Hamas, Hizbollah and Iran. "One of the most fundamental principles of the state of Germany is to ensure the security of Israel", Angela Merkel declared.
The events of 1938 represent the "darkest chapter in German history". The "breach of civilisation which was the Shoah or Holocaust" cannot ever be made good, however much Germany wishes this were possible.
She is then all the more thankful, when Jewish communities re-emerge and synagogues are consecrated in Germany, declared the Chancellor. "Jewish life," she said, "must have a good place and a good home in Germany."
