By Eric Martin
Kristallnacht will stay forever etched into the cultural consciousness of the Jews as the day of violence and terror that marked the beginning of their open persecution by Nazi Germany: on the night of 9 November 1938, anti-Semitic mobs burned or damaged at least 1000 synagogues and vandalized or looted 7500 Jewish businesses across the country, killing 91 Jews in the process.
The Council of Christians and Jews Western Australia (CCJWA) held its Commemoration of Kristallnacht at Perth Modern School on Sunday 10 November – the day after the anniversary of the tragedy – drawing a congregation of about 300 people, including nearly 100 secondary students who were participants in the proceedings.
CCJWA’s primary focus is education toward combatting the spread of antisemitism, the historic hatred of Jews that led to the events of Kristallnacht and the horrors of World War II and the holocaust.
Special guest, the Honourable Malcolm McCusker AC CVO QC CitWA and former Governor of WA (2011-2014), delivered a heartfelt presentation to the gathering, highlighting the fact that anti-Semitism is something that requires eternal vigilance if it is to be barred from a place in Australian culture:
“This year, at a public school in Melbourne, a 6-year-old Jewish boy was forced to kiss the feet of another boy under threat of violence,” the Hon McCusker shared.
“He was told that he was “Jewish vermin” and this was all filmed by other children and then posted on social media.
“This is far from being an isolated incident in Australia: the ABC reported last year a 60 per cent increase in anti-Semitic incidents in Australia, involving assault, abuse, vandalism and graffiti,” he said.
“During the last Federal election campaign, Josh Frydenberg, our treasurer, and a Jew, had his office defaced with swastikas, and anti-Semitic graffiti.”
The vandalism and Nazi graffiti were clear echoes of the past, a haunting reminder of the terror of Kristallnacht and the violence that soon enveloped Europe.
Even though the Kristallnacht riots were allegedly spontaneous, local outbreaks of anti-Jewish sentiment, the Nazi regime had actually issued orders to the Gestapo, Hitler Youth, and the Security Service to actively instigate and then participate in the destruction.
During this time, they were not to endanger non-Jewish German life or property; subject foreigners (even Jewish foreigners) to violence, and; they were to remove all synagogue archives prior to vandalising them and to transfer that archival material to the Security Service.
These records were later used to identify Jews and ensure that none escaped the Nazi net.
The orders also indicated that police officials should arrest as many Jews as local jails could hold, preferably young, healthy men.
As the pogrom spread, units of the SS and Gestapo (Secret State Police) arrested up to 30,000 Jewish males and then transferred most of them from local prisons to Dachau, Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen and other concentration camps.
The events of Kristallnacht represented one of the most important turning points in the beginning of the Nazis’ so-called “Final Solution” to the Jewish “problem”: Kristallnacht marked the first instance where the Nazi regime incarcerated Jews on a massive scale, simply on the basis of their being Jewish.
Hundreds died in the camps as a result of the brutal treatment they endured and even though many did obtain release over the next three months, it was solely on the condition that they begin the process of emigration from Germany.
Indeed, the effects of Kristallnacht would serve as the incentive that launched a mass exodus of Jewish people from Germany in the months to come.
Moreover, the apathy and acceptance with which most German civilians responded to the violence of Kristallnacht, signalled to the Nazi regime that Germany was prepared for more extreme anti-Semitic measures.
The Nazi regime expanded and radicalized measures aimed at removing Jews entirely from German economic and social life in the forthcoming years, eventually moving toward the realization of a Germany “free of Jews”.
However, despite the clear threat represented by the Nazi regime, the nations of the world did little to assist the Jews in escaping the coming genocide.
“Earlier that year, in July 1938, President Roosevelt had convened a conference at Evian, a French town known for its bottled water, to consider the crisis. A number of Western democracies were represented, including Australia…” the Hon McCusker explained.
“One observer at the conference, Golda Meir [who later became President of Israel] commented that Australia, to its shame, resisted more than a token intake of refugees, with the extraordinary explanation that Australia as yet had no antisemitism, but if large numbers of Jewish refugees came in, that might develop.
“We should all remember that many men and women, of Australia and other democratic nations, fought against Nazi tyranny, racism and totalitarianism,” the Hon McCusker added.
“Let us all honour their memories by being up standers, not just bystanders: there must never be another Kristallnacht, another Shoah.”