GERMANY-AUSTRIA 9-10 Nov 2008 70th anniversary Kristallnacht pogrom against Jews

During the Nazi government pogrom called Kristallnacht in 1938, synagogues were burned, Jewish shop windows were broken and Jews were murdered, beaten or arrested throughout Germany and Austria. The attacks marked the start of the Holocaust against Europe's Jews, Gypsies and other groups Adolph Hitler considered undesirables. The 70th anniversary will be an occasion for remembrances, retrospectives, seminars and concerts in cities around the world. It will also be a rallying anniversary for legal and banned neo-Nazi groups -- and for groups protesting against extremist events. Extremists can convoke a rally under a pretext such as "peace" to slide under any local bans against racist or hate gatherings.

In 2007 neo-Nazis announced they would march through Prague on the anniversary in protest against Czech participation in the occupation of Iraq.

More than 20 different projects have either already been realized or are being planned for the center of Berlin to commemorate the horrors of the Nazi era. The approach of the anniversary could see announcements of new monument projects.

The anniversary is a rallying point for Holocaust denial organizations and bodies that oppose them. In Brussels former Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski will head the "European Forum of Tolerance: The Council of Europe’s Civil Society Representatives,” a gathering expected to attract heads of state.

Nov 9 also marks the proclamation of Germany's first democracy in 1918 and the day the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. June/08

RELATED READING:

Fighting back against rising neo-Nazi violence (Globe and Mail 31 Oct 2007)
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