Commemoration of Kristallnacht

Photo Credit: Ehsan Khakbaz, flickr.com.

We hope that you are able to join us on Sunday, November 11 at 1:30 pm at the Illinois Holocaust Museum for our commemoration of the 74th anniversary of Kristallnacht when we contrast the acts of righteous "upstanders" with the indifference demonstrated during the November Pogrom. The program will include remarks from Ernest Fruehauf, who recalls these events of his childhood in Kitzingen, Germany, and his father’s arrest, fueling their efforts to leave Germany.  Other speakers will be Benjamin Albalas, President of the Jewish community of Athens and Moses K. Konstantinis, immediate past president KIS, an authority on Thessaloniki, who will reflect on the impact of the Holocaust on Greek Jewry. A detailed press release is attached.

The program will begin with the unveiling of new plaques at the Ferro Fountain of the Righteous, in honor of rescuers from Greece, Belgium and Poland. Two plaques reflect the heroic deeds of Greek rescuers, Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens and All Greece and Dimitris Spiliakos. Andree Geulen-Herscovici of Belgium provided shelter and safety to local Holocaust survivor, Marguerite Mishkin and her sister Annette, who were children at the time of World War II.  In Poland, Katarzyna Moroz took in a young Jewish woman and her 3-year-old daughter, telling neighbors they were distant cousins. Family members of the rescuers and those whom they rescued will be present, along with members of the Jewish, Greek, Belgian and Polish communities.