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Supplemental Info about Kristallnacht 4-27-14
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Ruth Gasten will be the featured speaker at the annual Yom HaShoah event (Holocaust Remembrance Day), to be held at Congregation Beth Emek in Pleasanton. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the pogrom carried out against Jews across Germany and Austria known as Kristallnacht ("Crystal Night," or "Night of Broken Glass"). "Kristallnacht represents the last of a long history of pogroms against European Jews, and the first act of organized violence against Jews perpetrated by the Nazis."
Other survivors of the Holocaust and children of survivors will participate in the ceremonies.
The event will also feature a sanctuary with images from Kristallnacht, displays of survivors, and a Holocaust timeline to which participants will be able to add personal information.
The focus of the program will be honoring the memory of those whose lives were lost or shattered on Kristallnacht. The last shreds of normalcy of Jewish life in Nazi Germany came to an abrupt end that night with a series of state-sanctioned and coordinated riots and massacres against Jews. The pogrom was instigated by Nazi officials and carried out by the Nazi Storm Troopers, Hitler Youth and civilians.
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