The Lessons of Kristallnacht Continue to Inform Our Work

From the Desk of Lori Shepherd, Executive Director

Each year, those of us engaged in Holocaust education mark a calendar filled with deeply significant historical dates ad adversaries. In January, we begin with International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, commemorating the liberation of Auschwitz. We also pause to reflect on January 20, the date of the Wannsee Conference, and January 30, when Adolph Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany. In April, on April 19, we honor courage and resilience as we remember the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. In September 15, we consider the devastating consequences of institutionalized hate by marking the passage of the Nuremberg Laws.

And on November 9 and 10, we confront one of the most pivotal moments in Holocaust history - Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass.” These two days in 1938 marked a critical turning pint in what would become the Holocaust, signaling a shift from discriminatory laws and social exclusion to large-scale, organized physical violence. The Nazi regime orchestrated a rampage that destroyed thousands of Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues, and led to the arrest and imprisonment of more than 30,000 Jewish men. Jews were beaten, terrorized, and murdered simply for being Jewish.

The world responded to Kristallnacht with widespread condemnation - but words were not matched by action. Diplomatic protests and expressions of outrage were not accompanied by concrete efforts to aid the victims. This failure to act sent a clear and tragic message to the Nazi regime: the international community was unlikely to intervene, It became, effectively, a green light to continue on the path of persecution and extermination.

Kristallnacht matters today because it offers a profound lesson on the dangers of antisemitism, the escalation of hate-fueled violence, and the urgent need for civic vigilance against oppression. The events of November 9-10, 1938, demonstrate how state-sponsored discrimination can swiftly evolve into brutal, systematic violence - and how the silence of bystanders not only enables but emboldens persecution.

Nearly ninety years later, Kristallnacht still speaks to us with unmistakable urgency. Its anniversary reminds us that hate, if left unchecked, inevitably escalates. We must continue to study, teach, and recognize the warning signs of hatred and genocide. We cannot turn away from persecution and violence. When we see something, we must say something. We must stand firmly against antisemitism and all forms of identity-based hate.

This week, the Tucson Jewish Museum & Holiocasut Center marks the eighty-seventh anniversary of Kristallnacht through several community events you’ll read about in the newsletter - and through our ongoing commitment to education. We do so becasue this date remains a powerful reminder of the fragility or freedom, the necessity of protecting human rights, and the peril of bystander apathy in the face of injustice.