*In Germany, shattered glass and a shattered wall*
*By Brian Siegal and Klaus Ranner*
The ninth day of November is laden with meaning in Germany. Two of those dates in the 20th century, 1938 and 1989, have special significance and everlasting lessons,
Nov. 9 is a time when Germans remember and grieve for the victims of Nazism, who were demonized, then dehumanized and finally destroyed. Monday is the 71st anniversary of ``Kristallnacht,'' or night of broken glass, so called because of the many shattered windows of Jewish property, that marked the beginning of open persecution of Germany's Jews by the Nazis.
The anti-Semitism that lay at the heart of Nazi ideology resulted in the annihilation of six million Jews. During the night of Nov. 9-10, 1938, some Jews were killed, Jewish women were raped and many were forcibly taken to concentration camps like Dachau and Buchenwald. Nearly all synagogues in Germany were desecrated or completely destroyed.
*Confront hatred *
From this pogrom and the horrors that ensued, we learn that intolerance and hatred must be confronted early. Through education and preservation of memory, the individual victims that lie hidden behind the anonymous numbers must not be forgotten. Personal testimonials are diminishing as survivors pass on, making it all the more essential that we transmit this memory and lessons to the younger generations.
That is why it is so important that we have places such as Yad Vashem, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach and the Holocaust Memorial located at the very heart of Berlin, the German capital. The German government and nongovernmental institutions play a major part in keeping the memory of the 1938 pogrom and the Shoah alive.
In this spirit, the German government takes action against any form of anti-Semitism because it would be naive and negligent to believe that anti-Semitism died with the Nazis. Anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia must never again be allowed to gain a foothold in Germany, Europe or anywhere else.
Nov. 9, 1989, for most Germans, is one of those days that anyone can tell you what he or she was doing the minute they heard the news that the Berlin Wall had fallen. Twenty years ago all of Europe had been seized by a unique sense of departure, an irrepressible drive to freedom, from which we can draw energy even today.
In the summer of 1989, thousands of Germans from what used to be the GDR occupied West German missions in East Berlin, Budapest, Prague and Warsaw to gain permission to emigrate to West Germany. Their determination to get rid of an oppressive system was obvious. Others who stayed at home in East Berlin, Leipzig and other East German cities took to the streets shouting ``We stay here,'' ``We are the people'' and eventually ``We are one people.''
On Nov. 9, 1989, the pressure on the outdated regime in East Berlin became so strong that the Berlin Wall opened after more than 28 years and Germans just celebrated. The lesson of 1989 is that it is possible to bring down a dictatorship through a revolution without a drop of bloodshed.
On this Nov. 9 we, a German and a Jew, are united in remembrance of the victims and in our conviction of ``never again.'' Certain events must never be allowed to happen. We are also united in the responsibility for preserving the memory of the past and building a more-humane future.
And we are united in seeing a Germany that has developed to be a partner, that takes on as much responsibility for its past as for its present and future.
The lessons learned from the past include seeking dialogue instead of confrontation, cooperation across differences of opinion, responsible use of power and responsible use of freedom and that an ideal shared by a majority can make the world a better place.
/Brian Siegal is director of American Jewish Committee's Greater Miami and Broward Regional Office, and Klaus Ranner is the German Consul General in Miami./
