“It was a dark day,” Federal Minister Nancy Faeser said in her speech at the Bundestag for the 85th anniversary of the pogroms on the night of 9 November 1938. She said that the day “foreshadowed the worst crime against humanity ever committed: the Shoah”, which claimed the lives of more than six million Jews.

“What happened during those 12 years of our history must never be allowed to happen again – what Germans did and what they allowed to happen by remaining silent. This lesson remains fundamental for the Federal Republic of Germany and its constitutional order. ‘Never again’ is now!” the federal minister stressed.

Bundesinnenministerin Nancy Faeser im Deutschen Bundestag (Larger version opens in new window)



Source: Henning Schacht

She went on to say that Germans today must never remain silent or look the other way when Jewish people are attacked and murdered – as they were in Israel on 7 October, by the Islamist terrorist organisation Hamas.
Hamas terrorists cold-bloodedly hunted down men, women and children with the intention of killing as many Jewish people as possible. More Jews were killed on 7 October 2023 than at any time since the Shoah.
Federal Minister Faeser expressed her solidarity in the following words: “We mourn the dead. We feel with their friends and families. We fear for the hostages. And we stand by Israel. Unconditionally.”

We must fight antisemitism

She called on everyone in Germany to take responsibility for fighting antisemitism: “As a society, we must speak up even more loudly, we must oppose anti-Jewish hate even more forcefully. Antisemitism – no matter its source – is an attack on human dignity. Fighting antisemitism is the responsibility of our entire society. It is a task for each and every one of us.”

Defending democracy

The federal minister also said that democracy was able to defend itself, as shown by the ban on activities by Hamas and the support network Samidoun. The German affiliate of Samidoun was dissolved.

“Anyone who attacks people must be prepared to face the full wrath of the law. Anyone who justifies mass murder, who abuses civil liberties in order to promote inhuman crimes and hate, cannot seek protection in the freedom of expression. No! Anyone who does those things violates our values and our law – and must accept the consequences,” the federal minister said.

Memorial service with the Federal Chancellor

The central memorial service for the pogroms of November 1938 was held at the Beth Zion synagogue in Berlin. Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz attended along with Federal Minister Faeser. Federal Chancellor Scholz spoke at the event, as did Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany.

The pogroms of November 1938

More than 1,300 people in Germany died as the result of the pogroms of November 1938. Some 30,000 Jewish people were arrested or imprisoned in concentration camps. More than 1,400 Jewish places of worship were destroyed and thousands of Jewish-owned businesses were ransacked.