At a commemoration ceremony at Beth Zion Synagogue in Berlin, Federal Chancellor Scholz appealed to all Germans to take a stance against anti-Semitism. Here you can see the photos commemorating the victims of the November Pogroms.
Berlin, 09 November 2023: 85 years ago, on the night of 9 to 10 November 1938, synagogues and Jewish shops were burned in Germany and thousands of Jews were assaulted, arrested or killed. To mark the occasion, the Bundestag held a debate on this day entitled ‘Fulfilling historical responsibility – protecting Jewish life in Germany’.
Members of the Bundestag debated the issue of providing more comprehensive protection for Jews in Germany. Anyone who attacked people must “expect to feel the full force of the rule of law”, said Interior Minister Faeser, and she announced tough consequences in the fight against anti-Semitism, hate speech and malice.
102-year-old Holocaust survivor Margot Friedländer followed the debate, as did the President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, and Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor.
In the government district, the Federal Chancellor cleaned the “stumbling stones” for the couple Hans and Ruth Judith Goslar. Goslar was head of the press office of the Prussian State Ministry for 13 years and a devout Jew. He died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
Today, some 100,000 stones in more than 30 countries act as a reminder of a dark chapter in our history – lest we forget.
Having been the scene of an arson attack on 18 October 2023, the Beth Zion synagogue, hosted the central commemorative event to mark the 85th anniversary of the November Pogroms. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcomed Holocaust survivor Margot Friedländer.
The Central Council of Jews in Germany hosted the memorial service in the synagogue. CCJ President Josef Schuster sat between the Federal Chancellor and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The numerous guests included many members of the government as well as the Presidents of the Bundestag and the Bundesrat.
In his speech, Federal Chancellor Scholz recalled the terrible lootings of Jewish facilities and shops that happened in 1938. Even before these events, Jewish citizens had been deprived of their rights by the National Socialist dictatorship. 9 November 1938 was a further step along the way to the organised murder of six million Jews.
In view of the Shoah as a collapse of civilisation, said the Federal Chancellor, it was shameful that Jews continued to experience marginalisation and hostility time and time again to this day. He appealed to everybody in Germany to take a stance against anti-Semitism.
Afterwards, the Federal Chancellor met with school pupils in the inner courtyard of Lauder Beth Zion School.