A Kristallnacht Memorial

9 November 1938 was the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Weimar Republic in Germany, which was anathema to the Nazi party, who had formed the Third Reich in 1933. In March of 1938, Germany had annexed Austria. Not a good time to be alive, particularly if you were Jewish. On 7 November, a 17 year-old Jewish man, Herschel Grynszpan, under provocation, assassinated a Nazi diplomat in Paris, and this was taken as a signal to move against the Jews. Grynszpan died on 9 November and, at the encouragement of the Nazi leaders, members of the SS and SA, together with their many sympathisers destroyed Jewish property, including shops and synagogues that night. In the night of 9 and 10 November, 86 years ago this weekend, thousands of shops and synagogues, were destroyed or severely damaged in the Third Reich. This tragic event is known as the November Pogrom or Crystal Night (because of the sound of broken glass everywhere). In Austria alone over 100 synagogues were destroyed. (See here and here for more details.) One such was the Turkish (Sephardic) Synagogue in Zirkusgasse 22, Vienna, a ten minute walk from where I live. A photo from 1900 shows this building, which had only received planning approval because it was set back and largely hidden from the street.

I took a photo of the site recently. The remains of the synagogue were replaced by a block of public apartments as late as 1985.

The destroyed building is nowadays commemorated by a plaque on the wall.

In the street outside the building is an unusual lamp post, which doesnt actually light the road.

Standing under this at night and looking up reveals the design.

Look carefully and maybe you will see what I only saw when I got home and processed my photo -- the impression of a Jew, in prayer, wearing a tallit.

Postscript: Earlier this year the right-wing FPÖ polled first in the Austrian general election. The ÖRF reported today that the President of the Parliament, himself a member of the FPÖ, attempted to place a wreath in the Judenplatz to commemorate the November Progrom. Given the racialist views of many FPÖ members, Jewish youth were upset by this and stood in his way. Here, courtesy of Google translate, is what the ÖRF reported:

On Friday morning, Jewish demonstrators prevented Rosenkranz from commemorating the November pogroms with a wreath at the memorial on Judenplatz in Vienna. The Jewish Austrian students had formed a human chain around the memorial and told the National Council President: "Anyone who honors Nazis has no word for anything!" Rosenkranz himself is a German nationalist duelling fraternity member.

"I would now like to request that I be given the opportunity to get through here to the wreath," said Rosenkranz, surrounded by numerous media representatives. Asked whether the action was not a legitimate democratic protest, Rosenkranz replied: "I would ask you one thing: you could ask me about it later, after this ceremony is over."

However, there was no commemoration at all; instead, the police tried to persuade the demonstrators to retreat, and Rosenkranz also discussed things with the protesters. Demonstrators made it impossible for Rosenkranz to get through

Reuters News reported here, and there is video of the confrontation here.

Clearly we again live in difficult times for Jews and others.

David

Quite apart from their political views, which are supported by a democratic state, up to a point which they have not crossed, the FPÖ are in a difficult position. I dont know the details, but the way that votes are counted in Germany and Austria is not first past the post, as in the UK. The result of this is to lead frequently to coalition governments. Despite the FPÖ collecting more votes in the election than any other party, 30% is not an overwhelming majority. Although reluctant to do so, the President of Austria, an honourable man, asked the FPÖ to see if they could form a coalition with other parties, thus commanding a majority of votes. The other parties were unwilling to join with the FPÖ, so other combinations are now being tried. Despite this, the current leader of the parliament is a member of the FPÖ and by tradition was bound by virtue of his office to represent the country in commemorating Kristallnacht from the perspective of the Jews. Obviously, he and other MPs were embarassed by this. It is not clear to me whether he is an anti-semitic sympathiser or not, but let‘s give him the benefit of the doubt and assume not. (The nationalist party that he represents has other, less extreme views.) But the Jewish students found him guilty by association. It might have been better if the President of the Republic had assumed the task of placing a wreath, as that would have represented unequivocal support for the Jewish side in repect of the historical tragedy. But that was not to be. All very embarassing. In my view, as a non-Austrian, the problem is that it is not clear to everyone what the long term aims of the FPÖ are. But let‘s leave it at that. The reason for my mentioning the incident above was simply to show that, as I wrote, we still live in difficult times — and not only in Austria.

David