Rabbi Daniel Siegel – Head of Jewish Life

High School Kristallnacht Commemoration Ceremony and Program

Facilitated by our Informal Jewish Life Educator, Daniel Samowitz, our Jewish Life Madrichim commemorated Kristallnacht in poetry, song, personal reflections and the lighting of a memorial candle in memory and honour of those who perished in what is seen as the beginning of the Holocaust.

Dr Shimon Samuels, Director for International Relations for the European office of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, headquartered in Paris, France, spoke with our students of the complexity of a world that makes such evil possible, while also bringing forth up-standers who give us hope that good can triumph through caring and understanding.

Jordana Blackman

Jewish Life Madrichah, Jordana Blackman, recounts the events and significance of the Night of Broken Glass:

On the night of 9 November 1938, Nazis attacked Jewish businesses and religious sites around Germany, destroying thousands of stores and synagogues. This evening became known as Kristallnacht or literally, Night of Crystal, often referred to as the Night of Broken Glass, and marked the commencement of many of the horrors of the Holocaust.

Nearly 100 Jews were murdered during the violence. Nazi officials ordered German police officers and firemen to do nothing as the riots raged and buildings burned, although firefighters were allowed to extinguish blazes that threatened Aryan-owned property.

Kristallnacht owes its name to the shards of shattered glass that lined German streets in the wake of the pogrom—broken glass from the windows of synagogues, homes, and Jewish-owned businesses, plundered and destroyed during the violence. The events of Kristallnacht represent one of the most important turning points in National Socialist anti-Semitic policy. Historians have noted that after the pogrom, anti-Jewish policy was concentrated more and more concretely in the hands of the SS. Moreover, the passivity with which most German civilians responded to the violence signalled to the Nazi regime that the German public was prepared for more radical measures.

Aarin Regan-Lacey

Jewish Life Madrich, Aarin Regan-Lacey, spoke at our commemoration about his family’s experience at the time of Kristallnacht:

Many of my family members were murdered in the Shoah, three of them were under the age of 18, around the same age or younger than everyone in this room. I’m not going to ask you to imagine what happened in the Shoah as no one but survivors could even know what it felt like. However, I am going to ask you: “Imagine if someone came into your home… starting a genocide against your people?” This is what happened to my family and our people during Kristallnacht.

I recently went on March of the Living, Australia. Every participant is given a Live for Me bracelet which I’m currently wearing. This bracelet has a name of a child who was killed in the Shoah, in order for us, the next generations, to live for them as they did not have this chance. My child’s name is Aleksander Telc who was killed in 1944 at the age of two years old, in Auschwitz death camp. I am lighting this yahrzeit candle in honour of Aleksander Telc, my family members and the six million Jewish people who were killed in the Shoah.