🕯️ Kristallnacht: A Warning Echoing Through Time

On this night in 1938, the world watched as synagogues burned, Jewish businesses were shattered, and thousands of Jews were arrested. Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass,” was not the beginning of antisemitism—it was the moment it turned violent, public, and undeniable.

But it didn’t start there.

The Holocaust began with words, with laws, with the slow stripping away of rights. Jews were excluded from professions, denied citizenship, and vilified in public discourse. The pogroms crept in quietly, until the Final Solution roared to life.

Today, we mark this anniversary not just to remember the past—but to confront the present.

Antisemitism is rising again. In our communities, online, in politics, and on campuses. The rhetoric is familiar. The scapegoating is familiar. And the silence from many is, heartbreakingly, familiar too.

But remembrance alone is not enough.

We must build bridges, not walls. We must actively listen, not just react. We must speak with purpose, not just volume. We must stop viewing each other as opponents and start seeing each other as human beings—with stories, fears, and hopes worth understanding.

Leadership today means standing up—not just for our own communities, but for the dignity of all. It means refusing to let history repeat itself. It means choosing compassion over division, and courage over comfort.

Let Kristallnacht be more than a memory. Let it be a call to action.

— David Hanslip, NorthStar Perspectives