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Federation’s Olson Center to commemorate Kristallnacht

Shops damaged in Magdeburg, Germany, on Kristallnacht. (Photo: Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1970-083-42 / CC-BY-SA 3.0)

The Ruth & Irving Olson Center for Jewish Life (Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Northwest Division) will commemorate Kristallnacht, the “night of broken glass” that took place in Nazi Germany Nov. 8-9, 1938, with a program on Sunday, Nov. 10, from 10 a.m.-noon. Many historians view Kristallnacht, in which synagogues were torched; Jewish homes, schools, and businesses vandalized; close to 100 Jews killed; and 30,000 Jewish men arrested, as the prelude to the “Final Solution” and the murder of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust.

Rabbi Thomas Louchheim of Congregation Or Chadash will explore what the contemporaneous responses to Kristallnacht teach us about how people respond in times of crisis and fear.

Inbal Shtivi, director of the Weintraub Israel Center and community shlicha (Israeli emissary), will tell the story of her grandmother, who was in a work camp in Libya during the Holocaust.

Artists Anne Lowe and Carol Sack will lead participants in painting rocks to honor the memory of friends and family who have died.

In honor of Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Day in Israel, the center will screen the video “In Memory of Yitzhak Rabin Who Fell in the Battle for Peace.”

The program is free but registration is requested at www.jfsa.org/nwkristallnacht2019 or 505-4161. The Ruth & Irving Olson Center for Jewish Life is located at 180 W. Magee Road, Suite 140.