Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Sunday issued a joint call to fight all forms of hatred.
“Eighty-two years since Kristallnacht and the dark shadows of the past have not disappeared from our streets,” the three presidents state in a video clip posted Sunday evening on social media.
“We will stand against hatred. We will stand against racism, against anti-Semitism. We will stand together in Vienna, in Jerusalem, in Berlin. Never again means never again. Let there be light,” they say, each in turn.
The joint message comes ahead of a global event to mark the 82nd anniversary of Kristallnacht which will be livestreamed on Tuesday from the President’s Residence in Jerusalem.
Kristallnacht (“The Night of Broken Glass”) was the Nazi pogrom against Germany’s Jews that took place on Nov. 9-10, 1938, which involved the smashing of storefronts and synagogues.
