Conference taveng::bagels

    From Jewish Advocate, Nov 3, 1988 (I may miss some):
    
    At Cohen-Hillel Academy (somewhere on the North Shore), Nov 9th
    at 8pm, "Kristallnacht: Shattered Glass and Shattered Lives - 50
    Years Later", two eyewitness accounts.
    
    There were also a couple of events earlier today.  The advocate
    has a couple of stories including eyewitness interviews.
    

Interesting item from the Jerusalem Post of Nov 4:

Many German businesses this year are celebrating their 50th
anniversaries. This is not a coincidence -- a lot of Jewish
companies had to be sold as a result of Kristalncht and its
aftermath -- of course at ridiculous prices.  The new Aryan owners
usually changed the name, sometimes didn't.   The present German
government is trying to get these business to tone down the 50th
anniversary celebrations for obvious reasons.  Not always
successfully... 

    A special piece of music was written to commemorate Kristallnacht
    this year.  I've forgotten the composer's name, but the piece is
    being premiered around the U.S.A. this Wednesday.

    In Boston it will be performed at Temple Emanuel in Newton (on Ward
    Street).  Admission is free.

    I'll get some more information Wednesday morning.

David

    To the west, Temple Sinai, 661 Salisbury St, Worcester is having
    a program Wednesday night, November 9th, at 8pm.  The theme is
    "The affirmation of the Importance and Centrality of the Synagogue
    to Ongoing Jewish Life".  Speakers include two eyewitnesses to the
    destruction.  It is free and open to the public.
    

    re: .3	a quote from the Boston Globe
    
    To commemorate that dark night, on the anniversary itself, cantors
    from 12 Americal congregations will participate in the premiere
    of an oratorio called "Stars in the Dust".  The work was commissioned
    by the Cantors Assembly, the world's largest body of hazzanim. 
    In Massachusetts, the honor falls to Cantor Charles D. Osborne,
    hazzan of Temple Emanuel in Newton Centre.  The performance will
    begin on Nov 9 at 8 p.m.
    
    The music is by Samuel Adler, chariman of the composition department
    at the Eastman School of Music.  The text, by Cantor Samuel Rosenbaum,
    retured hazzan of Temple Beth El in Rochester, NY takes its theme
    fro mteh opening words of Lementations, mourning the destruction
    of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple:
    
    "how is it, the city once great with people sits lonely as a widow?"
    
    Rosenbaum's text continues: "The crash of breaking glass, the din
    of the fragments as they fell filled the night.  The crystal splinters
    carpeted the streets and were soon crushed to dust underfoot." 
    In the oratorio, this is part of the narration and will be spoken
    by Emanuel's Rabbi Samuel Chiel.
    
    The oratorio concludes: "Liberty must be renewed each day like the
    prayer of a pious Jew!  When we barter away a jewel, we may wind
    up with broken glass!  The Jewish spirit is our most precious
    inheritance.  Siz Million Jews believed it was worth dying for.
     We must believe it is worth living for".
    
    Neither a service nor a concert, the observation at Temple Emanuel
    will conclude with the recitation of the Kaddish...the evening will
    also include two witness accounts of Kristallnacht...

    re: .0
    
    Also on PBS that evening (09Nov), although I don't know if it will
    be specifically related to Kristallnacht is an interview with Elie
    Wiesel.  I think it's on quite late, but G-d bless the VCR for times
    like that!
    
    Waky

    Termple Emanuel in Andover, Mass, will hold a ceremony tomorrow,
    I think starting at 7:30 pm, to commemorate that horrible event.
    Other synagogues from the Merrimack Valley region, such as Temple
    Beth El of Lowell, asked their members to join this ceremony.  If
    you live in this area, please come too.
    
    For more info, call Temple Emanuel (508) 470-1563 or Temple Beth
    El (508) 453-{7744,0073}.
    
    Shaike
     

    re .5
    
    Cantor Osborne has a very nice voice so I am sure he will do justice
    to  the oratorio.
    

My wife and I will be lighting six candles tonight for display in our window.

For those staying home, I recommend creating a visible emblem demonstrating
the memory of Kristallnacht.

David Ellis -- Secure Systems Group -- BXB1-1/D03 -- DTN 293-5073 

          I've transcribed below, a speech given by a Holocaust
          survivor to my wife's nursery school class (4-year olds) on
          November 9th.  Surprisingly [to me, at least], the message
          was well received and understood.  It proves that it's never
	  too early to start teaching the lessons of the Holocaust.

	  I've done the transcription verbatim.  Grammatical errors
	  and the target audience aside, the simplicity of the message 
    	  makes it all the more powerful.  Let's never forget!
	  
	  /Ed

	  We are lighting candles today to remember the terrible
	  things that happened on November 9, 50 years ago.  About 300
	  synagogues in Germany were burned; Jewish store windows
	  smashed; 50,000 people were arrested; many people were
	  killed.

	  All this was started by a very, very bad man in Germany
	  called Adolf Hitler.  As soon as he became the leader of
	  that country, he did bad things to the Jewish people.  Over
	  the radio, he would tell all kinds of lies.  He made every
	  Jewish person wear a big Jewish star with the name "Jew"
	  written on it.

	  Young kids like you and your brothers and sisters were not
	  allowed to go to school; I was 14 years old going to high
	  school and had to stop.  My Dad had 2 general stores, farm
	  machinery, cows and horses.  Everything was taken away from
	  us.  All the money in the bank was taken away.  We could
	  travel no further than 2 miles away from home.  Can you
	  imagine not being able to travel any further than to New
	  Brunswick?  Many times windows were broken in our house and
	  in many other Jewish homes.  This was all done by people who
	  used to be our good friends and neighbors.

	  All those things happened because that madman Hitler and his
	  friends wanted to get rid of all the Jews.

	  I did not live in Germany -- I lived in Czechoslovakia, but
	  we were treated the same way as the Jews in Germany.  In
	  March 1942, one policeman came to our house with about 20
	  other men from our town.  They circled our house to make
	  sure that no-one escaped.  They told us to pack 50 pounds of
	  clothing and food and to be ready to leave in one hour.
	  Those 20 persons who helped the policeman were once our
	  friends and neighbors.  Can you imagine what terrible things
	  people can do.

          They made us walk about 5 miles to the next town where we
          stayed overnight in a school.  There were several hundred
          people who slept on a cement floor.  Next day we were all
          loaded into cattle cars on a train -- just like animals and
          shipped to the Polish border.  There we were handed over to
          the German SS troops.  Awful things started to happen --
          beatings and killings all around. 
	  
          About one day later, we arrived at a destination in Poland.
          My two brothers and I were separated from our parents and
          sister and her 3 kids -- never to see them again.  My two
          brothers were killed after about 2 months.  My family which
          was made up of 3 brothers, 3 sisters, my mother and father,
          along with 4 nephews and about 80 other relatives -- aunts,
          uncles, and cousins -- they all died -- except 8 cousins
	  survived.
	  
	  While I was in concentration camps for 3-1/2 years, the
	  Germans never called us by our names.  You were only a
	  number.  Mine was 36,707.  I have this number tattooed on my
	  arm and chest.

	  Be sure to remember and never, never forget what happened 50
	  years ago.  I was a witness -- I was there and saw what
	  hatred can do.

	  Please be kind to each other, no matter what religion, race
	  or color the other person is.  Don't be afraid to speak out
	  -- never let what took place 50 years ago happen again!