As the president of the organizing committee for this year’s
Montreal commemoration of Kristallnacht, the Night of the Broken Glass, veteran
educator Hanna Eliashiv wanted to do something different. Working directly with
the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre, an outstanding documentary was produced
and screened last week for the first time at Congregation Beth Israel Beth
Aaron, located in Côte
St. Luc.
The
film told the story of Kristallnacht from the standpoint of four Montreal
Holocaust survivors who were witnesses: Charlotte Lintzel, Ursula Feist, Leo
Dortort, Willie Glaser, as well as Alexandra Cohen, a young adult who has chosen
to transmit their message to her generation.(Feist, Glazer and Cohen are pictured here).
Charlotte Lintzel was
born in Berlin just before the rise of Hitler. Her family had not fled; she
survived the war in hiding. Ursula Feist was born in Berlin in 1921. Just after
the start of the war, her family sought refuge in Shanghai where they later
were interned by the Japanese. Born in 1928 in Graz, Austria, Leo Dortort was just 10 years old when he witnessed the riots
taking place in Graz during Kristallnacht. Willie Glaser was born in Furth, Germany. He was
only 17 years old when he witnessed the atrocities perpetrated during
Kristallnacht in Munich where he was a student. Alexandra Cohen represents the generation of young
Jewish adults. She is a human rights activist and an active member of Amnesty
International.
The
five individuals were in the audience and together lit a memorial candle. At
the conclusion of the ceremony, Eliashiv was surrounded by admirers who asked
her how fast she can get this film into schools – Jewish and non-Jewish- as the
message sent was invaluable. “That is our plan,”
Eliashiv promised. “We are working on an educational guide to accompany it and
we want that to be finished first.”
“We are the
future leaders of our communities,” Alexandra Cohen stated. “Kristallnacht and the Shoah
must teach us to be vigilant for acts of hatred and racism. It is our
responsibility to listen for warnings like Kristallnacht and to never allow
another genocide to happen.”
Dutort noted
how Hitler used Kristallnacht to see if the rest of the world would react. It
did not.
“Antisemtism,”
said Furst, “is rising. We must teach tolerance in schools.”
This
year’s commemorative ceremony included a musical program containing pieces
presented by the Bialik High School choir and Kol Nidrei by Max Bruch.
Kristallnacht was a pogrom orchestrated by the Nazis
on November 9th and 10th 1938. It took place throughout
Germany, annexed Austria, and in areas of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia,
then recently occupied by German troops. It marks the intensification of a
regime of terror against Jews by the Third Reich. Kristallnacht owes its name
to the shards of shattered glass that lined German streets in the wake of the
pogrom – broken glass from the windows of synagogues, homes, and Jewish-owned
businesses plundered and destroyed during the violence. All these events were
greeted with total indifference by the international community.
Joel
Lion, the Consul General of Israel, an eloquent speaker, noted that in 1938 the
Jews of Europe had nowhere to go. “Palestine was closed,” he said. “No country
in the world was ready to open up its doors But today if a stone is thrown
in France, Germany, the Ukraine, Canada
or the United States, there is a place for the Jewish community – Israel. It is
because of the State of Israel that you can live as a proud Jew wherever you
want.”
In
attendance were a number of other members of the diplomatic corps as well as
CSL Mayor Anthony Housefather, Councillors Ruth Kovac, Mitchell Brownstein,
Steven Erdelyi, Dida Berku and myself, Hampstead Mayor William Steinberg and
Councillor Abe Gonshor and St. Laurent Councillor Maurice Cohen, who just
marked 30 years in politics (he is pictured here with Berku). Rabbi Reuben J. Poupko, the dynamic spiritual
leader of Beth Israel Beth Aaron, gave closing remarks.
Visibly
absence were young adults from the community. Where were all of the kids who
attend the local Jewish day schools? And why did some very notable Jewish
community organizations decide to hold special dinners and raffles on a solemn
night like this? It is hard to figure.
While the official locally produced video is not ready for more of a public viewing yet, here is one about Kristallnacht:
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