The broken glass and Eva Geller

Eighty-eight years ago, on November 9 and 10, 1938, synagogues burned across Germany and Austria. Jewish businesses were smashed and looted, homes ransacked and families terrorised. Approximately 30,000 Jewish men were sent to concentration camps.

The shattered glass gave the Nazi pogrom its name: Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass. It revealed what happens when antisemitism becomes normalised and violence against Jews is tolerated.

We know what followed.

For generations, we have promised Never Again, building museums, erecting memorials and teaching our children the consequences of hatred. Yet on this anniversary, Jews across the Western world again confront attacks on synagogues, businesses and their lives.

Perhaps no story captures this anniversary’s significance more painfully than that of Eva Geller.