Holocaust survivor returns to Berlin on Kristallnacht anniversary, urges Germany to fight antisemitism

Geore Shefi, a 94-year-old Holocaust survivor and one of the last living witnesses to the Kristallnacht pogrom, urged German authorities to stand against antisemitism as Germany marked the 88th anniversary of the Nazi attacks on Jewish businesses and synagogues.

“I have come here at this time to say that Germany’s responsibility to preserve the memory of the Holocaust is eternal,” Shefi told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

On the night of Nov. 9, 1938, Nazi leaders organized antisemitic riots across Germany and neighboring Austria. During the pogrom, known as Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass), more than 1,400 synagogues were burned and thousands of Jewish-owned businesses were vandalized. At least 91 Jews were killed, hundreds were injured, and approximately 26,000 Jewish men were sent to concentration camps.

Shefi, who was seven at the time, emphasized that today's generations of Germans are not “guilty of what happened” nearly 90 years ago. However, he said they still “have an enormous responsibility and a duty to learn from the past to ensure that it never happens again.”

He returned this week to his native Berlin to share his Holocaust testimony with senior law enforcement officials from the United States, Germany and other European countries at the New Synagogue, which was largely destroyed during Kristallnacht.

The event, titled “Not on Our Watch: Operationalizing Never Again,” also honored Wilhelm Krützfeld, a local police official who attempted to save the synagogue from the flames and opposed the Nazi pogrom.

“I still remember the 'Night of Broken Glass' as if it was only yesterday," Shefi recalled. "That was the night when Nazi mobs ravished all the Jewish communities throughout Germany and Austria. During that night, Jewish homes, businesses, and Synagogues were burnt down or destroyed by other means. The same night some ninety-one Jews were murdered and some 30,000 men were sent to various concentration camps. It was a major turning point in the Nazi persecution of the Jewish population. Only after three days was I allowed to go down to the street and only with an adult.”

A few months after Kristallnacht, Shefi's mother sent him to the United Kingdom on the Kindertransport, a rescue effort for Jewish children. He never saw his mother or sister again; both were later murdered in Auschwitz.

“There is special significance in giving my testimony before them [the police] in the very synagogue that was saved from burning on Kristallnacht thanks to a police officer who did the right thing,” Shefi said. “He did not stand by, and he did not allow the flames of hatred to spread.”

“I call on police officers in Germany to learn from him and draw inspiration from his courageous act,” he added. “If he could act that way under Nazi rule, police officers today must also act and refuse to stand by in the face of hatred.”

Antisemitism in Germany has surged since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attack in southern Israel. Reflecting on the lessons of the Holocaust, Shefi warned against allowing hatred to grow unchecked.

“That’s the way things start,” he said. “You start out with a law which looks very mild and very quickly grows, and people have to wake up to it. If you want to keep this country democratic, you have to start immediately to fight against such situations.”

Jochen Kopelke, federal chairman of the German Police Union (GdP) and president of the European Federation of Police Unions, also emphasized Germany's responsibility to remember the Holocaust and confront antisemitism.

“The Federal Republic of Germany bears immense guilt,” he said. “It cannot absolve itself of that guilt, now or ever. Our enduring obligation is to remember the unimaginable atrocities of the Holocaust.”