2023-11-09 18:48:28
Parliament commemorates the November pogroms 85 years ago; Contemporary witness Benno Kern remembers what happened at the time
Vienna (PK) – The Hamas massacres in Israel on October 7 “were the worst genocide of Jews since 1945.” With over 1,400 brutally murdered, there were more deaths than in the Kristallnacht pogrom on November 9, 1938. The President of the Jewish Community of Vienna, Oskar Deutsch, emphasized this today at the memorial event in Parliament on the occasion of the 85th anniversary of the November pogroms. You can’t compare the massacres with the Shoah, that would put the Shoah into perspective, he said. But Hamas’ goal is the same: the systematic extermination of Jews.
In this sense, Deutsch showed no understanding for a relativization of the massacre or calls for contextualization, whereby he did not only address “death-worshiping” anti-Semites and “Israel haters”. Anti-Semitic threats also came from “left-wing radicals” who worked together with Islamists, as well as from right-wing extremists and neo-Nazis, he warned. According to him, a 400 percent increase in anti-Semitic incidents has been recorded in Austria alone in the last few weeks.
Deutsch appealed to those present to help ensure that there will never be another October 7th and never once more a November 9th. The November pogroms were the beginning of the systematic destruction of Judaism in the “German Reich”. Ultimately, six million people were murdered for one reason: because they were Jews. Something like this should never happen once more. “Never once more is now!”, he reiterated, like National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka before him (see parliamentary correspondence Nr. 1169/2023).
Deutsch sees the state of Israel as a kind of “life insurance” for Jews worldwide, “including for us in Austria.” Israel is a defensive democracy that is committed to protecting Jewish life as well as to protecting all innocent life, he said. Deutsch expressly thanked Parliament for the support – both the coalition and the opposition – and there were also “scattered cases” of support from the Muslim side.
Kern: Something like that must never happen once more
Afterwards, Holocaust survivor Benno Kern, chairman of the Schiffschul Synagogue reconstruction fund, described his experiences at the time in a conversation with ORF journalist Lisa Gadenstätter. The 95-year-old is one of the few people who can still talk regarding the night of November 9th to 10th, 1938, when National Socialists stormed and set fire to Jewish institutions in Vienna, destroyed shops, looted apartments and took Jews with them persecuted and harassed with particular brutality.
Born in Vienna in 1927, Kern was eleven years old at the time of the pogroms and attended the Jewish Talmud-Torah school. On November 10th, he went to school at eight o’clock as usual, Kern said, and continued on his way despite warnings from children who ran towards him. The school principal was lying on the ground, the attackers had kicked him in the face and the blood was “just splattering.” The other teachers were also beaten half to death. Books and ritual objects were thrown out of the windows and a huge pyre burned in the courtyard. Later, Torah scrolls were rolled up on the street and “Indian dances” were done on them, Kern reported: “That was terrible.” He then ran away, but shortly before reaching the apartment, the coal dealer “gave him a knuckle” and the Hitler Youth boys beat him up. With the last of his strength he made it home.
Kern later fled with his parents via detours to France, where his family was arrested in 1942 and deported to Auschwitz. At the ramp of the concentration camp, where the new arrivals were selected, there was Alex in an SS uniform, a formerly nice supervisor at a children’s camp who was playing with him and the other children at the time. He killed two men in the queue because he felt provoked. In the spring of 1945, Kern and his father were sent on the death march towards Buchenwald concentration camp; on the way, a guard shot his father. Kern himself was liberated on April 11th – weighing only 28 kilos – and returned to Vienna as the only survivor of his family.
His message to today’s generations is: “Nothing like that should ever happen once more,” said Kern. “God forbid something like that happens once more!” He sees a particular danger from Iran and its “helpers”, such as Hamas and Hezbollah. When it comes to Austria, Kern’s big dream is that the Schiffschul synagogue will be rebuilt – but despite corresponding promises, he sees many bureaucratic hurdles.
Some excerpts from the ORF documentary “Old Hate, New Madness: Anti-Semitism – History of a Deadly Prejudice”, which was broadcast yesterday evening as part of the series “People & Powers”, were also recorded at the event. Director Robert Gokl traces the roots and effects of violent anti-Semitism and documents the continued effects of anti-Semitic prejudices following 1945 (see also parliamentary correspondence Nr. 1125/2023). The memorial event was musically accompanied by Shmuel Barzilai (vocals), Dominik Hellsberg (violin) and Niko Pogonatos (piano). (Final memorial event) gs
A NOTICE: Photos from the memorial event can be found in Parliament web portal.
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