VP Kamala Harris commemorates Kristallnacht

Nov. 9 marked the 83rd anniversary of Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass). It was the worst outbreak of terror and violence perpetrated by the Nazis against Jews throughout Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia. 

On that night in 1938, the Nazis destroyed around 7,500 Jewish homes, businesses and schools. They set fire to 191 synagogues throughout greater Germany. Fire departments were instructed to not put out the fires but to ensure adjacent property did not go up in flames. 

Ninety-one Jews died during the violence and 30,000 others were later sent to concentration camps. Two days later, the German government fined the Jewish community one billion marks for “property damaged in the rioting.” 

Kristallnacht became a significant turning point in the Holocaust, which is why we continue to commemorate the anniversary every year. 

On Sunday Nov. 7, Vice President Kamala Harris shared some remarks ahead of her speech at the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) “Never is Now” Summit. The virtual summit took place Nov. 7 through Nov. 9. In the midst of the highest rates of antisemitic incidents ever tracked by the ADL, the summit aimed to tackle crucial conversations about hate and bigotry and creating a stronger, more inclusive movement for the future. 

“Sadly, we know that antisemitism is not a relic of the past,” she said. “In recent years, the Jewish-American community has faced an alarming rise in hate crimes. Four years ago, white supremacists descended upon Charlottesville, Virginia, spreading hatred and instigating violence. Three years ago, we suffered the most deadly attack on the American Jewish community in the history of our nation at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

“And I want to be very clear about this. When Jews are targeted because of their beliefs or their identity… When Israel is singled out because of anti-Jewish hatred…That is antisemitism. And that is unacceptable.

“President Joe Biden and I are fully committed to fighting antisemitism. We must fight antisemitism and hate of all kinds. And call it out wherever it exists. We know: A harm against one of us is a harm against all.”