Disturbing accounts are emerging of the Kristallnacht commemoration ceremonies on 9th November in Berlin. Kristallnacht was a pogrom across Germany and Austria during which Jews were murdered and beaten up and their property destroyed. Kristallnacht is often seen as the start of the Nazis’ Final Solution, and the Holocaust.
Moabit memorials: Police report that a memorial in Moabit, Berlin, was vandalised with Holocaust denying and revisionist graffiti reading: “Ausc. .it. 1058”, “1058 is a lie and joke”, “learn the truth, read the revised lists” and “hear the truth from wherever it might come”. The memorial marks the railway station from which many of Berlin’s Jews were deported to concentration camps, and also commemorates the 36 synagogues destroyed by National Socialists. Nearby, another memorial was daubed with graffiti reading “Gas chamber liars”, “Holohoax – The Zionists Did It” and “9.11 – false flag” (a reference to the antisemitic conspiracy theory that Israel was responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks). Yet another makeshift memorial to the victims of deportation that read “They were our neighbours” was vandalised with the words “All lies!”
Abuse at Kristallnacht march: The annual antifascist demonstration commemorating Kristallnacht repeatedly suffered verbal abuse from bystanders shouting: “Freedom for Palestine” and “Free Palestine”. One demonstrator reported hearing “F***ing Jews”. A 2-litre tetra-pak carton was also thrown at the procession.
Abuse on public transport: At around 16:45 on a train, an elderly person was reported to be shouting antisemitic, revisionist harassment, about “Lies about what our fathers and forefathers are alleged to have done” and using the term “Jew” as a term of abuse.
Buildings daubed: The Marzahn-Mitte community building and two further offices in Marzahn, Berlin, whose work includes refugee support were vandalised with antisemitic graffiti, including a “J” and a Star of David.
Far-right demonstrations: Three far-right demonstrations took place in central Berlin, including one within 100 meters of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, at which the NPD’s leader Sebastian Schmidtke described 9th November, the anniversary of Kristallnacht as “The day Germans made history.” The BÄRGIDA march included a speaker describing the German government as “well poisoners”. The 120-strong procession, holding Third Reich flags. included the Rykestraße Synagogue in its route, which was looted and vandalized 74 years prior.
Photo: Moabit
Source: RIAS
Additional details: Moabit, Spreemilieu, Volkssolidarität, Berliner Register and Berlin rechtsaußen
Translation by: Chloe Zeegen