The Northern New Jersey Holocaust Memorial and Education Center and the adult education committee of Congregation Bnai Yeshurun will hold a community-wide commemoration of Kristallnacht. The event will take place on Tuesday, November 9 at 7:30 p.m. at Congregation Bnai Yeshurun, 641 West Englewood Avenue, Teaneck.

The event will feature Teaneck resident Irene Black who experienced Kristallnacht while hiding in her grandparents’ home in Zeckendorf, Germany, as well as historian Dr. Rafael Medoff, who will discuss America’s response to Kristallnacht.

Irene Black was born in Nurnberg and moved to the small town of Zeckendorf to live with her grandparents while her father went to the United States to get funds to bring the rest of his family to America. She will retell her and her family’s experiences during that tragic day and the events leading up to it, and recount how the Jews of Germany were systematically terrorized and subsequently killed.

Medoff is founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, based in Washington, D.C., which focuses on America’s response to Nazism and the Holocaust. He is the author of more than 20 books about the Holocaust, Zionism and American Jewish history. He will specifically discuss the response of the American government, the press and the public to Kristallnacht.

Medoff noted: “Hearing the voice of a woman who actually lived through the horrors of Kristallnacht, and learning about how Americans responded to the pogrom, are crucial parts of the important work of the Northern New Jersey Holocaust Memorial and Education Center. The Center’s innovative programming will help the public understand the vital lessons of the Holocaust.”

Donations are welcome and will benefit the capital campaign of the Northern New Jersey Holocaust Memorial and Education Center, which is slated to be built on the Teaneck Municipal Green and serve the entire North Jersey community with educational programs as well as a central place to memorialize and pay tribute to the victims of the Shoah.

Go to www.nnjholocaustmemorial.org  to donate online. Registration is preferred.

By Jewish Link Staff