Dix Hills Jewish Center to Commemorate Kristallnacht

The Dix Hills Jewish Center on Sunday will commemorate the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the murderous Nazi rampage that presaged the deeper horrors of the Holocaust.

Participants will honor the deeds of Aristides de Sousa Mendes, a Portuguese diplomat who defied his government and saved thousands of people fleeing the Nazi onslaught.  Olivia Mattis and Eric Moed, two descendants of people saved by Sousa Mendes, will speak at the service, which will begin at 7:30 p.m.

"The events of Kristallnacht (night of broken glass) shattered all illusions about Nazi Germany.  On the night of November 9 - 10, 1938, as darkness descended an even darker reality became apparent.," said Rabbi Howard R. Buechler. "In a meticulously planned pogrom by German military, police and leaders, the Jewish communities in all areas of Germany were attacked - hundreds of synagogues were burnt and destroyed, many Jewish lives were lost, and thousands of Jewish citizens of Germany were sent to concentration camps."

"Sadly, most of the civilized world remained conspicuously silent in face of these massive acts of violence and hatred. Kristallnacht was a dress rehearsal for the Holocaust that followed in which six million Jews were annihilated by a government precisely because of their faith," Rabbi Buechler said.

Sousa Mendes was serving in France in June 1940 as refuges began arriving, fleeing the Nazis. Despite his government's orders a, he issued Portuguese visas for about 30,000 people, allowing them to stay ahead  of the Germans. The Portuguese government kicked him out of the diplomatic corps, though did accept the refugees Sousa Mendes had helped escape.

Among those who fled to safety on visas issued by Sousa Mendes were 12 members of Olivia Mattis's paternal family and the grandfather and great-grandfather of Eric Moed. Mattis, a musicologist, is co-founder and past president of the Sousa Mendes Foundation.

Moed, an architect, used a grant from Benetton Company’s “Unhate Foundation,” to create a temporary installation at the Sousa Mendes home  Portugal highlighting the injustice done to Sousa Mendes.

“I could not have acted otherwise, and I therefore accept all that has befallen me with love," Sousa Mendes said later. He died impoverished in 1954.