Tuesday, January 14, 2025
The Holocaust Committee of Long Island sponsored Kristallnacht on Nov. 2, commemorating the beginning of the Holocaust, in Long Beach’s City Hall.
It was facilitated by Master of Ceremonies Vincent Marmorale. Kristallnacht is known as The Night of Broken Glass, where attacks against Jews and Jewish businesses in Germany and Austria took place on November 9 and 10, 1938. Shards of broken glass littered the streets. Approximately three hundred people were in attendance.
The program began with The Pledge of Allegiance, led by Gary Glick from the Jewish War Veterans.
Keynote speaker Rabbi Jack Zanerhaft spoke close to an hour as the attendees listened in awe to his message.
“I think it was very significant, especially given the headlines as of late,” Zanerhaft said. “Long Beach came out in full support of commemorating what historians typically refer to as the start of the Holocaust. I was very honored to be the keynote speaker to share my personal thoughts and my family’s experience.”
Zanerhaft shared a personal story of his uncle, who, after Kristallnacht, was living in a ghetto. He became deathly ill and before he died, he gave his identity papers to another person, because he was a street sweeper and allowed to leave the area to work. Because of this act, that person was able to eventually escape using those papers.
Many years later, Zanerhaft found out that very same person took his uncle’s name to honor him and his act.
“There were millions of stories of bravery, of resistance,” Zanerhaft said, “and it serves as a reminder that even the darkest times, there are points of light and hope that inspires us to continue to remember these important moments in history.”
The program included city council members, City Manager Daniel Creighton and Council President Brendan Finn. State Senator Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick and Nassau County Legislator Patrick Mullany also spoke on the subject. Long Beach’s Harvey Weisenberg, one of the original founders of the committee, spoke at length on how the events of Kristallnacht can be “compared to anti-Semitism throughout our country today.”
The event also included a heart-warming performance of an “A Capella” version of “Who Am I” performed by the Long Beach High School choir, including Isabella Alley, Leah Clutter, Halette Henry, Stephania Robinson and Nate White, followed by a candle lighting ceremony. Candles were lit by Holocaust survivors as well as children of Holocaust survivors.
The program concluded with the Holocaust Pledge, led by Warren Vegh, whose father, Maurice Vegh, was a child Holocaust survivor. The audience stood, held hands and repeated each line of the pledge recited by Vegh.
