Portuguese Holocaust museum marks anniversary of Kristallnacht

The International Day for the Fight Against Antisemitism was commemorated on Thursday by The Holocaust Museum and the Jewish community in Porto, Portugal, marking the anniversary of Kristallnacht.

The ceremony featured the lighting of a memorial flame in front of 500 students from schools across Portugal who took part in the event.

Dr. Michael Rothwell, the Museum’s director, spoke to the crowd about his grandfather's experiences of having his shop windows smashed during the pogrom which marked the beginning of the Holocaust.

"In many countries, Jews are perceived as rich and plutocrats with their own state in Israel which unfortunately the detractors also hate. Generations after the end of the Holocaust, anti-Judaism and anti-Israelism are worryingly on the rise, in Europe and beyond," he said.

Leading Holocaust education in Portugal

The only such museum on the Iberian peninsula, the Holocaust Museum of Porto is run by members of the local community and often hosts school trips, being visited by approximately 100 thousand school children and students during the last two years, roughly ten percent of the Portuguese teenage population.

Kristallnacht marks the night of November 9, 1938, when Jews were attacked in a pogrom across the lands controlled by Nazi Germany. Thousands of Jews were killed whilst many Jewish businesses and synagogues were smashed and burned, marking the opening salvo of what would become the Holocaust.