Kristallnacht

Anne Lieberman’s “In Honor of the 70^th Anniversary of Kristallnacht” is worth reading in its entirety, and the two short videos she posts at the end are an important reminder of what was created after the Holocaust and remains at stake today.

Bret Stephens’ “Tolerance Is Not the Lesson of Kristallnacht” in today’s Wall Street Journal should also not be missed:

Sunday was the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass.  With some notable exceptions,
Europe has opted to mark the occasion by missing its point.

“We must not be silent,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a memorial ceremony in Berlin’s renovated Rykestrasse synagogue, one of the few that was not burned down that night by the Nazis — though 2,200 others were, as crowds of German or Austrian citizens looked on.  “There can be no tolerance, for example, if the safety of the state of
Israel is threatened by Hamas, Hezbollah and
Iran.”

Well said.  Maybe the chancellor will turn next to the issue of the 2,000 German companies that still do business with
Tehran, whose exports are up more than 14% this year. . . .  

So here we are, 70 years after Kristallnacht, as good an example as any of what happens when the evil of the few (or, perhaps, not-so-few) takes advantage of the cowardice of the many.  If there’s a lesson here, it’s in the need not for “tolerance,” but for moral courage.  Now as before,
Europe finds it in short supply.