Rabbis, politicians, imam commemorate Kristallnacht in Malmö
“It is not only glass that is broken, it is the heart.”
By JEREMY SHARONRabbis, politicians, imam commemorate Kristallnacht in Malmö(photo credit: AMANAH: THE JEWISH – MUSLIM FAITH AND TRUST PROJECT - COURTESY)
Faith leaders, educators and politicians gathered in the Swedish city of Malmö on Monday night to commemorate the 82nd anniversary of Kristallnacht, the anti-Jewish pogroms which swept Germany in November 1938, and to stand in solidarity against antisemitism “and other forms of racism.”The event was held in Malmö Synagogue and organized by the Jewish community in cooperation with Amanah: The Jewish-Muslim Faith and Trust Project, an organization that has sought to foster coexistence in Malmö which has witnessed severe antisemitism in recent years.“The common message was that we must acknowledge antisemitism and other forms of hatred and discrimination exist in our society, and learn from the past how serious this matter is and how we must stand up for one another in doing so,” the Amanah organization said.The speakers at Monday night’s event included Mujo Halilovic and Marian Wydow from the Roma Information Center, Sara Wettergren from the Liberal Party’s Malmö branch, and director of education for Malmö Municipality, Daniel Lazer, a young leader from the Jewish community.Amanah’s founders, Imam Salahuddin Barakat and Rabbi Moshe David HaCohen, also spoke at the event.“It is not only glass that is broken, it is the heart,” said Barakat in reference to the name Kristallnacht, which references the broken glass of synagogues destroyed in the Nazi riots.Kristallnacht was a Nazi organized series of riots and pogroms in Germany on November 9-10, 1938, when 267 synagogues were destroyed; dozens, if not hundreds, of Jews killed, thousands of Jewish businesses vandalized and looted throughout Germany and Austria; and 30,000 Jewish men arrested and sent to concentration camps.“We the Muslim communities in Malmö, are fully determined and dedicated that today and in the future, we share the burden of this pain with you, and combat all types of antisemitism, it is not enough to state slogans we need to reach beyond the words,” said Barakat.HaCohen insisted that the Holocaust was not a history lesson but “a warning of where a beautiful, progressive society can end up,” and said that society today must evaluate where it stands in relation to the treatment of minorities.“Our focus should not only be only what the Nazis and others did to the Jews, to the homosexuals, to the Roma and to others. The focus must be ‘Where do we stand as a society today,’” said HaCohen.
“Having a democratic discussion about whether a Koran can be burned as an artistic expression is no different than praising the beauty of the Nazi convention – we should stop asking what are the rights and freedom of democracy and start noticing how people feel around us. Just as poison is kept far from our children’s reach – so must such vicious ideas be kept away from society.”
