“Pogromnacht” commemorates memorial without drawing on Nazi terminology

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To the Editor:

Nov. 9 and 10 mark the anniversary of Pogromnacht, not Kristallnacht.

On this anniversary we call on the International community to cease using the Nazi’s terminology for such a grave event. Kristallnacht — broken glass, is used to make little of what befell the Jews of Germany and Austria on these days. We must recognize that there were a lot more broken than glass.

On Nov. 9 and 10, 1938, Jewish homes and shops were ransacked and synagogues destroyed. Jews were forced to pay for the damages inflicted upon them. Many were tortured in the streets, and as many as 30,000 were sent to concentration camps, never to return.

Let us commemorate the ninth and tenth of November and honor those who suffered by ceasing to use the Nazi term for the event. Let’s begin to call it what it really was — a notoriously grave pogrom against the Jewish people of Germany and Austria.

Annemarie Werner

Nov. 11

Werner is an Evangelical Pastor at Vaterusner Kirche in Berlin. She is also a representative of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.