Szczecin honours victims of Nazi Germany's 'Night of Broken Glass'
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
10.11.2015 08:46
A commemorative ceremony was held in the city of Szczecin, north-western Poland, on Monday, marking the 77th anniversary of the so-called 'Night of Broken Glass', a notorious 1938 attack on Germany's Jewish community.
The aftermath of the Night of Broken Glass, during which Jewish property was destroyed across Nazi Germany. Photo: wikimedia commons
The inhabitants of the city paid tribute to the victims of the pogrom, also known as Kristallnacht (Crystalnight), in what was then the German city of Stettin.
During the night of 9-10 November 1938, SA paramilitary forces burnt the local synagogue, destroyed Jewish-owned shops and offices, and desecrated a Jewish cemetery.
The ceremony was held in front of a commemorative plaque at the site of the former synagogue.
Among those present was an eyewitness of the pogrom, 85-year-old Bodo Andreé.
“After Kristallnacht, my father told me: ‘This is the beginning of our end,'” Andreé said.
“And he was right.”
Ninety-one Jews were killed across the Third Reich during the Night of Broken Glass, and over 1, 000 synagogues and several thousand Jewish homes, offices and businesses were destroyed.
After World War Two, Stettin was renamed Szczecin and it became part of Poland. (mk/nh/di)