What are you doing on this anniversary of Kristallnacht?

It is the anniversary of “Kristallnacht.”

On the night of November 9, 1938, violent anti-Jewish demonstrations broke out across Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. Nazi officials depicted the riots as justified reactions to the assassination of German foreign official Ernst vom Rath, who had been shot two days earlier by Herschel Grynszpan, a 17-year old Polish Jew distraught over the forced deportation of his family from Germany and the antisemitic attacks that were rampant and sanctioned by the Nazis and their supporters.

Sparked by antisemitic sermons and doctrines from Nazi officials, for the next two days, violent mobs destroyed hundreds of synagogues, burning and desecrating Jewish religious artifacts, heirlooms and belongings of Jews, and Jewish buildings and businesses. On orders from Gestapo headquarters, the police and firefighters did nothing to prevent the carnage and destruction.

Almost 8,000 Jewish-owned businesses, homes, and schools were plundered. Over 100 Jews were murdered. 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Nazi officials immediately claimed that the Jews themselves were to blame…