Tonight we commemorate the Kristalnacht, which took place 1938 on this date. It started off because of a German diplomat got shot by a Jew in Paris and Hitler called for retribution – and then the German Jews had to pay the price. Jewish homes were ransacked, temples smashed, and people got killed. And their only crime was their cultural and racial belonging.
This was the beginning of the Final Solution and the Holocaust. Sadly, this was neither the first or the last racial pogrom in our history. In former Yugoslavia, Soviet Union, Africa, in Israel-Palestine there have been genocides and hatred campaigned against folk groups. It seems that it is a tragic thing we humans tend to do where ever we live.
Thanks for reminding us of the Kristalnacht.
Other pogroms I can think of,
Armenian Genocide where 1,500,000 were murdered;
against Copts in Egypt (current);
not to forget the “conflict” to say the least, in Darfur, Sudan – 300,000 civilians killed (ongoing.)
True! On Sunday now in Sthlm there is actually a demonstration in remembrance of the Armenian Genocide.