Pittsburgh rabbi attends Kristallnacht commemoration
A week after attending memorials to the victims of a deadly anti-Semitic attack here, Pittsburgh Rabbi James Gibson was part of a delegation Friday that attended the German government’s commemoration of the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht, a violent wave of Nazi attacks on Jews and their properties.
The event was held in the Rykestrasse synagogue, the largest surviving prewar synagogue in Berlin. It was desecrated the night of Nov. 9-10, 1938, when a Nazi pogrom destroyed synagogues along with Jewish businesses and other sites across Germany and Austria. It marked a major step toward the Holocaust, the subsequent murder of 6 million Jews by the Nazis and their allies.
Rabbi Gibson, of Temple Sinai in Squirrel Hill, was part of a delegation from the multidenominational North American Board of Rabbis.
“Every single person is asking about Pittsburgh,” Rabbi Gibson said, including government officials and those he met in informal settings. “They all understand that anti-Jewish hatred from 80 years ago has now just manifested itself in Pittsburgh.”
The anniversary comes nearly two weeks after a gunman killed 11 and wounded others during Shabbat activities held by three Jewish congregations at the Squirrel Hill sanctuary of Tree of Life / Or L’Simcha.
Rabbi Gibson said he was encouraged by German government officials’ acknowledgement of the historic atrocity of Kristallnacht and their commitment to keeping Germany a safe space for Jews today. But he shared their apprehensions about growing anti-Semitism and other prejudice among a farright minority.
Rabbi Gibson said he also spoke with students during a visit to Dresden.
When people ask how the synagogue massacre could happen in America, he said he talks about the role of high-powered guns, much easier to obtain in the United States than in Germany, and about the way anti-Semitism spreads online, alongside conspiracy theories and other slanders.
“We’ve emphasized at every point of contact how social media is a multiplier of hate,” he said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said during the ceremony that Germany has a moral duty to fight anti-Semitism at a time of rising far-right extremism, according to news reports.
“Jewish life is blossoming again in Germany — an unexpected gift to us after the Shoah,” she said, using the Hebrew word for the Holocaust. “But we are also witnessing a worrying anti-Semitism that threatens Jewish life in our country.”
Rabbi Gibson said Ms. Merkel and other government officials he met understand Kristallnacth “didn’t happen in a vacuum. There was much leading up to it and many consequences from it.”