Sherman to headline Kristallnacht commemoration

Academy Award-winning producer Emile Sherman will be the keynote speaker at this year’s communal Kristallnacht commemoration, which takes place next month.

Sherman, who won the Best Picture Oscar for The King’s Speech and was nominated for Lion, is the producer of the film One Life, a biographical drama based on the true story of British humanitarian Sir Nicholas Winton and his rescue of 669 children on the Kindertransport. He will be in conversation with moderator Michaela Kalowski.

This year’s theme is “From Kristallnacht to Kindertransport”.

On the night of November 9, 1938, Nazi forces set fire to over 200 synagogues, vandalised 7000 Jewish-owned businesses, arrested 30,000 Jews, and murdered 91 Jews across Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland.

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies Shoah Remembrance Committee chair Dane Stern said the theme reflects both trauma and hope.