“In today’s atmosphere, it could happen again”

On the 87th anniversary of Kristallnacht, Holocaust survivors who lived through the 1938 pogrom as children issued a powerful warning about the dramatic rise in global antisemitism, saying the world today is no safer for Jews than 87 years ago.

 

Walter Bingham (101), George Shefi (94), and Paul Alexander (90) were all children in Germany during Kristallnacht.

Bingham, who witnessed Hitler’s rise to power and experienced growing antisemitism as a young boy in Nazi Germany, said: “With today’s antisemitic atmosphere, pogroms against Jews can happen again.”

Alexander, who was an infant at the time, saw his father arrested that night and sent to Buchenwald. He said the world today is no safer for Jews than it was 87 years ago: “The images of the past two years remind us of the darkest days of the 1930s in Nazi Germany.”

Shefi remembers waking up to shattered glass outside a Jewish-owned store and finding his nearby school and synagogue burned.

In the aftermath of the pogrom, their parents arranged for them to escape to Britain on the Kindertransport, just weeks before the outbreak of World War II. For Shefi, it was the last time he saw his mother before she was murdered in Auschwitz. Bingham never saw his father again, who later died in the Warsaw Ghetto. Alexander was among the few who reunited with both parents, who had managed to flee before the war. Today, all three live in Israel.

To mark the anniversary, the three survivors released a joint statement with the International March of the Living, addressing the alarming surge in global antisemitism:

“We, Holocaust survivors, lived through the Kristallnacht pogrom as children in Germany.
We saw with our own eyes how hatred turned to flames, how indifference became complicity, and how the world stayed silent as Jews were attacked.

Today, 87 years later, we look around us and say with deep pain: the world has learned nothing.
Once again, Jews are murdered for being Jews. Once again, synagogues are attacked. Once again, universities remain silent in the face of incitement.

Hatred of Israel and the Jewish people spread like a plague.

The world today is no safer for Jews than it was 87 years ago.

In today’s atmosphere, Kristallnacht could happen again.

We call on governments to act decisively to eradicate antisemitism and to strengthen Holocaust education. Learn history. Teach your children what happens when the world stays silent.

We say this from a lifetime of experience: antisemitism does not disappear on its own.
It grows when met with silence. It thrives where ignorance prevails. It stops only when courageous people – Jews and non-Jews alike – stand up and say: enough.

Unlike the glass shattered on Kristallnacht, the Jewish spirit did not break and will never break.

Our spirit is stronger than fire, more stubborn than hate, and shines even in the darkest times.

Am Yisrael Chai.”

Two years ago, Bingham, Shefi and Alexander retraced their childhood escape from Nazi Germany. The journey, initiated by the International March of the Living, took place just one day after the October 7 attacks. From Germany, they watched as Israel’s southern communities burned during the pogrom that struck the country. They later joined the March of the Living in Poland. Their journey was documented in a short film: Watch here.

Scott Saunders, CEO of the International March of the Living: “This year, we mark the anniversary of Kristallnacht amid two consecutive years of record-high antisemitism worldwide, and less than a month after Jews were murdered in a synagogue in Manchester. Kristallnacht was a warning, and today we issue another: a pogrom against Jews can happen again.

At the International March of the Living, we will continue to advance Holocaust education and march against antisemitism, reminding the world of the devastating cost of hate.”

To mark the anniversary of Kristallnacht, a new report by the Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism reveals a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents worldwide since October 7.

According to the data, over the past two years, seven Jews were murdered in antisemitic attacks in the U.S. and Europe, including two killed recently in the deadly assault on a synagogue in Manchester. The report recorded 99 antisemitic incidents in synagogues, 98 targeting Jewish-owned businesses, 14 cemetery desecrations, and 182 incidents targeting Jewish institutions, including schools and community centres.