This Saturday marks the 75th anniversary of Kirstallnacht or “night of broken glass,” where the Nazis unleashed a series of riots against the Jews.
Many Synagogues, business and homes, when tens of thousands of Jews were bought to concentration camps for the first time. The reason it is called Kirstallnacht is because, after the Nazis were done destroying homes, business and Synagogues, the streets were filled with broken glass. Kirstallnacht was really the turning point in the Nazis plan to kill as many people as they could and it was the first significant event in Holocaust history.
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Growing up, I always learned about Kirstallnacht and the things that went on during the Holocaust. It was something that was ingrained in my brain since I was very young. Having three grandparents who survived the Holocaust means that I will never forget what happened to them and all the people who perished in the Holocaust. Attending Synagogue and religious schools, I always saw and heard from Holocaust survivors. Forgetting about what happened to these people is something that I will never be able to do.
Having been around survivors my whole life is one of the most humbling and amazing experiences. Hearing the hell that they went through and being able to be resilient is one of the main things I will always remember. Knowing that there are not many survivors left is very saddening. Knowing that the future generations will not be able to hear from actual survivors scares me.
When you get to hear first hand about an event that happened in history, it is really something amazing. Reading it from a textbook is not the same thing.
Now is the time for us to get all the remaining survivors stories taped so we can show the future generations what these people went through and so we can make sure that something like this never happens again.
