80 Years
The 9th of November is a very fateful day for Germany. In a good way (for instance, on Nov. 9th in 1989 the Berlin Wall came down), but mostly in a terrible and very sad way: November 9th 2018, is the 80th anniversary of the Pogrom Night of 1938, also referred to as "Crystal Night", "Night of Broken Glass", or Kristallnacht. The Pogrom Night on November 9th was the terrible "highlight" of days of destruction and arrests which followed the assassination of Nazi diplomat Ernst vom Rath by 17 year old Herschel Grynszpan in Paris. During the night of November 9th to November 10th SA paramilitary forces (and civilians) ransacked and damaged or destroyed Jewish shops, businesses, homes, schools, hospitals and cemetaries, and set synagogues on fire in Germany and Austria. Hundreds of people died, about 30,000 were arrested. While the Jewish population in Germany had, more than ever before, been discriminated against, surpressed and persecuted since the Nazi regime had come into power, that terrible night in 1938 marked the beginning of the so called "Final Solution" and the Holocaust. The name "Crystal Night" (Kristallnacht) comes from thousands upon thousands of glass shards that covered the streets after that night.
This was taken at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, also known as the Holocaust Memorial, at the heart of Berlin. The Holocaust Memorial was designed by architect Peter Eisenman. It consists of 2,711 stelae (concrete slabs) arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field, covering an area of 19,000 square metres. According to Eisenman, the stelae on sloping ground are supposed to create an atmosphere of uneasiness and confusion.
For me, due to the long and narrow alleys, there also is a feeling of losing "track" of people, of people disappearing. People you see there are "gone" the next moment. There can also be a sensation of "encircling". When I was there, I "met" a man, a tourist, and we happened to always take the same turn around the stelae, so we would meet each other again and again for a few times...The people who went underground in order to survive the Holocaust must have felt that where ever they turned to, however well chosen and protected their hideouts were, their persecutors could (and all too often would) find them at any time, anywhere...
Taken during a photowalk with Sabine.R, marionrosengarten, --Conrad-N-- and H. Roebke.
Den 9. November könnte man durchaus als "Schicksalstag" der Deutschen bezeichnen, nur dass die diversen Ereignisse, die sich in den vergangenen einhundert Jahren an einem 9. November zugetragen haben, eher weniger mit Schicksal zu tun haben als mit aktivem Tun. Im sehr guten (09.11.'89) wie im unfassbar schlechtem Sinne (09.11.1938):
09.11.1918: Beginn der Novemberrevolution in Berlin
09.11.1923: Hitler-Ludendorff-Putsch
09.11.1938: Pogromnacht
09.11.1989: Fall der Berliner Mauer
Der fürchterlichste 9. November war sicherlich jener vor 80 Jahren, die Pogromnacht, in deren Verlauf mehrere hundert Menschen getötet, mindestens 30.000 inhaftiert wurden und tausende jüdischer Geschäfte, Wohnhäuser, Schulen, Krankenhäuser, Friedhöfe verwüstet und Synagogen in ganz Deutschland und Österreich in Brand gesteckt wurden. Der 9. November 1938 gilt als Auftakt des Holocaust.
80 Years
The 9th of November is a very fateful day for Germany. In a good way (for instance, on Nov. 9th in 1989 the Berlin Wall came down), but mostly in a terrible and very sad way: November 9th 2018, is the 80th anniversary of the Pogrom Night of 1938, also referred to as "Crystal Night", "Night of Broken Glass", or Kristallnacht. The Pogrom Night on November 9th was the terrible "highlight" of days of destruction and arrests which followed the assassination of Nazi diplomat Ernst vom Rath by 17 year old Herschel Grynszpan in Paris. During the night of November 9th to November 10th SA paramilitary forces (and civilians) ransacked and damaged or destroyed Jewish shops, businesses, homes, schools, hospitals and cemetaries, and set synagogues on fire in Germany and Austria. Hundreds of people died, about 30,000 were arrested. While the Jewish population in Germany had, more than ever before, been discriminated against, surpressed and persecuted since the Nazi regime had come into power, that terrible night in 1938 marked the beginning of the so called "Final Solution" and the Holocaust. The name "Crystal Night" (Kristallnacht) comes from thousands upon thousands of glass shards that covered the streets after that night.
This was taken at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, also known as the Holocaust Memorial, at the heart of Berlin. The Holocaust Memorial was designed by architect Peter Eisenman. It consists of 2,711 stelae (concrete slabs) arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field, covering an area of 19,000 square metres. According to Eisenman, the stelae on sloping ground are supposed to create an atmosphere of uneasiness and confusion.
For me, due to the long and narrow alleys, there also is a feeling of losing "track" of people, of people disappearing. People you see there are "gone" the next moment. There can also be a sensation of "encircling". When I was there, I "met" a man, a tourist, and we happened to always take the same turn around the stelae, so we would meet each other again and again for a few times...The people who went underground in order to survive the Holocaust must have felt that where ever they turned to, however well chosen and protected their hideouts were, their persecutors could (and all too often would) find them at any time, anywhere...
Taken during a photowalk with Sabine.R, marionrosengarten, --Conrad-N-- and H. Roebke.
Den 9. November könnte man durchaus als "Schicksalstag" der Deutschen bezeichnen, nur dass die diversen Ereignisse, die sich in den vergangenen einhundert Jahren an einem 9. November zugetragen haben, eher weniger mit Schicksal zu tun haben als mit aktivem Tun. Im sehr guten (09.11.'89) wie im unfassbar schlechtem Sinne (09.11.1938):
09.11.1918: Beginn der Novemberrevolution in Berlin
09.11.1923: Hitler-Ludendorff-Putsch
09.11.1938: Pogromnacht
09.11.1989: Fall der Berliner Mauer
Der fürchterlichste 9. November war sicherlich jener vor 80 Jahren, die Pogromnacht, in deren Verlauf mehrere hundert Menschen getötet, mindestens 30.000 inhaftiert wurden und tausende jüdischer Geschäfte, Wohnhäuser, Schulen, Krankenhäuser, Friedhöfe verwüstet und Synagogen in ganz Deutschland und Österreich in Brand gesteckt wurden. Der 9. November 1938 gilt als Auftakt des Holocaust.