Don't forget Nov. 9, 1938 on Nov. 9, 2009

Another Nov. 9 must not be forgotten, particularly by Germans, amid the nostalgic euphoria of commemorating the remarkable fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago -- with all its historic significance as a symbol of political freedom paving the way to formal reunification of Germany on Oct. 3 1990. That other history-laden Nov. 9 was in 1938. Although it could not be imagined then, it was effectively the "dress rehearsal" for the Holocaust to come. Years of German terrorization of Jews after Hitler's rise to power climaxed on that night in nationwide anti-Jewish riots organized by Nazis under the pretext of retaliation for the murder in Paris of a German diplomat by a Jew. Widely known in German jargon as the "Reichskristallnacht" (Night of Broken Glass), or simply "Kristallnacht", it was a savage pogrom that continued into Nov. 10. Hundreds of synagogues were destroyed, Jewish homes and businesses ransacked, Jews attacked, imprisoned and beaten to death across Germany and in parts of Austria. Further reprisals followed as Germans systematically robbed Jews of their possessions and deprived them of their livelihood and citizenship, in a ruthless prelude to the unspeakable horrors of the Shoah and mass murder of millions. Germans of the present generation must not allow the hoopla of Nov. 9, 2009 to conveniently excise Nov. 9, 1938 from the collective national conscience, even as they rightly celebrate the monumental fall of the Wall.