Berlin storefronts to mark Kristallnacht
Some 100 businesses in German capital to be marred by jagged pattern of broken glass to commemorate pogrom which took place 75 years ago, 'take a stand against intolerance, racism and anti-Semitism'
Adhesive film will be used to cover shop windows to create the illusion of large holes and hairline fractures to commemorate the violence unleashed during the infamous event.
Around 100 Berlin businesses are expected to put the large stickers in their windows to commemorate the attacks which took place on November 9 and 10, 1938, and "take a stand against intolerance, racism and anti-Semitism," according to the organizers.
The pogrom, also known as 'The Night of Broken Glass', saw Nazi thugs plunder Jewish businesses throughout Germany, torch some 300 synagogues and round up about 30,000 Jewish men for deportation to concentration camps.
Some 90 Jews were killed in the orgy of violence.
Berlin had a "particular significance" in the pogroms, write historians Christoph Kreutzmueller and Bjoern Weigel in a new publication to accompany the remembrance event.
Violence in the capital city was fuelled by Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's propaganda minister and the local Nazi party leader.
"There was so much to destroy, so the violence in Berlin was particularly long-lasting," write Kreutzmueller and Weigel in "Kristallnacht? Bilder der Novemberpogrome 1938 in Berlin" ("Kristallnacht? Pictures of the November Pogroms in 1938 in Berlin").
The store window stickers will be concentrated in areas in downtown Berlin targeted by the Nazi looters, including a major shopping street that was a centre of the arts and theatre during the Weimar Republic.
A major luxury department store, KaDeWe, will participate, organizers said.
The installation is part of a year-long series of events in Berlin recognizing the 80th anniversary of the Nazi party's accession to power and the 75th anniversary of the November pogroms.
