Memory in Hamburg: 86 years after the pogrom night - anti -Semitism remains!

Memory in Hamburg: 86 years after the pogrom night - anti -Semitism remains!

Hamburg. A moving commemoration of the pogrom night 86 years ago: hundreds of people gathered at the Joseph-Carlebach-Platz, the location of the once majestic Bornplatz synagogue to commemorate the persecuted and murdered Jews in Hamburg. Among those present were prominent personalities such as Philipp Stricharz, the chairman of the Jewish community, and Citizenship President Carola Veit.

"It makes me angry and sad that we are experiencing an increase in anti -Semitic attacks today," said Veit. "Jewish life belongs to us. Jews should feel safe in our middle." Her words underlined the urgency of commemoration, which is inseparable from the current reality. Rebecca Vaneeva, President of the Association of Jewish Students North, spoke of a particularly painful commemoration this year. "Since October 7, we have seen the extent of anti -Semitism and hatred that many of us thought unimaginably," said Vaneeva. The shattering news from Amsterdam illustrate that anti -Semitic agitation turns violence.

a light for the victims

In Hamburg's Grindelviertel, numerous lights illuminate the stumbling blocks that are reminiscent of the victims of the pogrom night. These small brass plates that bear the names of the persecuted are laid in front of the former residential and workplaces in the sidewalk. Over 7,000 stumbling blocks now adorn the streets of Hamburg and keep the memory of the dark past.

Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) urgently demanded to promote and protect Jewish life in Germany. "Jews have a permanent place in the Hamburg city society. We do not tolerate anti-Semitism," he emphasized on the platform X. The pogrom night on November 9, 1938 remains a memorial for the atrocities that were committed in the Nazi state as synagogues and shops and were abused and murdered countless Jews. The Bornplatz synagogue, once the largest Jewish church in northern Germany, is to be rebuilt and a new center of Jewish life in Hamburg.