GENEVA - The World Jewish Congress (WJC) commemorated the 88th anniversary of the November Pogrom, also known as Kristallnacht, on Monday, November 9, at Beth Yaacov, Geneva's main synagogue. The event was organized in partnership with the Jewish Community of Geneva and the Gamaraal Foundation, with the support of the Alfred Landecker Foundation and the Hans und Berthold Finkelstein Stiftung.
Around 200 people attended, including ambassadors and diplomatic representatives from more than 30 countries.
The evening centered on the testimony of Dr. h.c. Norbert Cymbalista, one of the last living eyewitnesses of the 1938 pogrom, who turned 100 this year. Dr. Cymbalista recalled watching the synagogue of his hometown of Worms, a historic center of Ashkenazi Jewish life, burn on the night of November 9, 1938. Nazi supporters threw Jewish books and religious objects into the fire, while firefighters on the scene acted only to protect neighboring buildings.
Diplomatic represenatives also took the floor. These included Ambssador Carlos Mario Foradori, Permanent Representative of Argentina to the United Nations in Geneva, representing the Argentinian Presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrace Alliance (IHRA); Ambassdor Nikola Gillhoff, Deputy Permanent Representative of Germany; Mr. David Aslan Anzarout, Minister Counselor of Israel; and Ambassador Anna Ifkovits Horner, Deputy Permanent Representative of Switzerland. The speakers pointed to the rise of antisemitism and hate speech, particularly since the October 7 terrorist attacks and expressed solidarity with the Jewish community
On the night of November 9 to 10, 1938, synagogues across Germany and Austria were set on fire and Jewish homes and businesses were destroyed. At least 91 Jews were murdered, and some 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and deported to concentration camps. The pogrom marked a turning point, as Nazi persecution of Jews shifted from discrimination and exclusion to open, state-organized violence. Many who tried to flee found that other countries would not take them in.
