The Milwaukee Jewish Federation, Jewish Community Relations Council, and Nathan and
Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center strongly condemn, and are committed
to speaking out against, the violent and antisemitic attacks perpetrated against our Jewish
and Israeli brothers and sisters last evening in Amsterdam. Mobs terrorized and beat
Israelis and Jews trying to enjoy a soccer game. This moment reminds the Jewish People of
the many pogroms – acts of violence against Jews, often state-sponsored – that we have
experienced throughout our history, simply because of our identity as Jews. Chillingly, this
violent night in Amsterdam falls just days before the 86th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the
Night of Broken Glass, on November 9-10, 1938.
On Kristallnacht, Nazi leadership unleashed a series of pogroms across Germany and
recently incorporated territories, resulting in the deaths of over 100 Jews, thousands of
injured, roundups and deportations of 30,000 Jewish men to Dachau concentration camp,
and the destruction of synagogues and Jewish-owned businesses and homes. Even though
the pogroms of Kristallnacht were covered extensively abroad in newspapers and
magazines, including right here in Milwaukee, the world failed to heed this warning. Six
million Jews and millions of others were killed in the years that followed by the Nazis and
their collaborators, in part due to the world’s failure to stand up against this blatant
identity-based hate.
We urge our community to report antisemitic or anti-Israeli incidents using this form and to
remain educated and alert during this challenging time. We are grateful for the opportunity
to come together as a community next week to commemorate Kristallnacht and take a
stand against antisemitism and hate.