82 years after Kristallnacht, Rivlin says ‘plague of anti-Semitism’ still exists

President Reuven Rivlin holds an event at his official residence in Jerusalem marking 82 years since Kristallnacht, a Nazi-backed pogrom in which nearly 100 German Jews were murdered and tens of thousands disposed and sent to concentration camps.

“We remember its victims and remind ourselves how extremist hate propaganda, when it reaches the heights of divisiveness, can shatter the very foundations of society — of humanity and human rights — into a thousand fragments. To sow destruction, catastrophe, to allow the descent into the darkest recesses, beyond any imagination,” Rivlin is quoted saying in a statement from his office.

Rivlin notes the World Holocaust Forum held in Jerusalem earlier this year, during which world leaders pledged to stand up against anti-Semitism and racism.

“In the months since then, the whole world has been dealing with the deadly coronavirus. Even dealing with the new virus, which demands solidarity and collaboration, has not managed to obliterate the old plague, the plague of anti-Semitism,” he says. “The virus of anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia is tougher than coronavirus. It changes shape, takes cover and threatens to break out through any crack. But there can and there must be a vaccine for it, too.”

Also speaking at the event are Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeir.

“The November pogroms did not mark the beginning of the persecutions of German Jews. They were a nauseating outburst of violence following on from many years of discrimination, harassment and hostility. They foreshadowed the unspeakable crimes of the Shoah committed by my compatriots a few years later. And they offer a stark warning for our times,” Steinmeir says.

While he is happy to see “Jewish life is again flourishing in Germany,” Steinmeir laments rising anti-Semitism there.

“I am ashamed that Jews do not feel safe wearing a kippah on the streets. I am ashamed that Jewish places of worship need protection. I am ashamed that only a heavy wooden door prevented a deadly attack on the synagogue in Halle on Yom Kippur last year,” he says, referring to last year’s deadly shooting attack.