Thousands of students commemorate 86th anniversary of Kristallnacht at Oporto Holocaust Museum

2500 students gather in the Holocaust Museum in Oporto to commemorate Kristallnacht in an event taking place at the same time as the anti-semitic attack in Amsterdam last Thursday night.

The event commemorates the 86th anniversary of Kristallnacht, also commonly known as The Night of Broken Glass. Simultaneously, last Thursday night, there was an attack against Israeli citizens in Amsterdam after leaving a soccer match.

The President of the Porto Jewish Community, Gabriel Senderowicz, stated that "Kristallnacht is not part of history but happening today. The way to fight antisemitism is to educate the youth."  

Senderowicz spoke about Kristallnacht, sharing that "it is not just part of history but is happening in parts of Europe today, where Jews are being hunted and assaulted at this very moment." 

He further shared his belief in the importance of Holocaust education, stating that antisemitism "can be confronted in many ways, but one of them is educating the next generation to understand how hate and ignorance can lead to violence and destruction.”

“This is why we are focused on bringing tens of thousands of young Portuguese students to our Holocaust Museum. This should be replicated around Europe. That is how we combat antisemitism," Senderowicz said.

Filipe Araújo, the Vice-President of the Porto Municipality, also present at the event, highlighted that "Remembering the Holocaust together with school children is of special importance because it is through education that we can convey crucial lessons to build a better world. May each generation cultivate these teachings to strengthen the foundations of a more fair and supportive society."

The commemoration event was sponsored by the British Embassy in Portugal, which covered the costs of bringing thousands of teenagers to the event from all parts of the country to the Holocaust museum.

The museum director, Michael Rothwell, and the British Ambassador to Portugal, Lisa Bandari, hosted the event. 

Rothwell recounted stories about his grandparents' experience during Kristallnacht. "For my grandparents, the vandalism of their shop and throughout Berlin was the turning point at which they realized the family had to leave Germany. Their children escaped to England thanks to the Kindertransport, but they themselves ended up being taken by train to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest of the German Nazi extermination camps, where they were both murdered in 1943," said the museum director. 

In turn, Ambassador Lisa Bandari stated, "It is a great honor to be here today, and to see so many people in the Museum, and to witness the inspiring work Michael and his colleagues are doing."

"This museum teaches us about the dark places humanity can go when, instead of pursuing tolerance, we allow disinformation and the dehumanization of minorities. This is a central theme: how we can all work together to learn more and tackle disinformation and hatred, especially when it is aimed at minorities for whom we must all speak up, even at difficult times," said Ambassador Bandari.

Oren Rozenblat, the Israeli ambassador to Portugal, spoke at the event. "This violent antisemitic massacre, engulfed by the silence and disregard of the "common man," was one of the key events preceding and foreshadowing the Holocaust."

Rozenblat highlights Israels importance

"There is a key difference between today and then. Then, the Jewish people were unprotected and vulnerable, whereas now we have a strong, independent state with the right as well as the ability to defend itself," Ambassador Rozenblat said. 

The ceremony featured the lighting of a memorial flame in front of students from schools across Portugal.

The Holocaust Museum of Oporto is the only one of its kind within the Iberian Peninsula. The Holocaust Museum of Porto is run by members of the local community whose family members were murdered during the Holocaust and hosts daily school trips, visited by approximately 50,000 school children and students each year. Opened in 2020, the museum has already received around 20% of the Portuguese teenage population.