Kristallnacht survivors warn about antisemitism, hate speech

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER
Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) — Holocaust survivors from around the world are warning of the reemergence of antisemitism as they mark the 84th anniversary of Kristallnacht — the “Night of Broken Glass.” That’s when Nazis, among them many ordinary Germans, terrorized Jews throughout Germany and Austria. In the campaign #ItStartedWithWords by the organization that handles claims for Jews who suffered under the Nazis, several Holocaust survivors have recounted on video how racist and antisemitic speech led to actions that nearly saw the mass extermination of Jews in Europe in the last century. On Nov. 9, 1938, the Nazis killed at least 91 people, vandalized 7,500 Jewish businesses and burned more than 1,400 synagogues during pogroms across Germany and Austria.