Kristallnacht Interfaith Commemoration
Capital District Premiere of The Rescuers |Free and open to the public]
Tuesday, November 10, 2022, 7:00 PM
Page Hall, University at Albany downtown campus
135 Western Avenue, Albany, New York
Eighty-four years ago, November 9-10, 1938, the Nazis staged vicious attacks or pogroms against Jews in Germany and Austria in riots that came to be known as Kristallnacht or “Night of Broken Glass.” Known as the “Night the Holocaust Began,” the date is a turning point in history and a warning for today. Hundreds of synagogues and businesses were destroyed, and 30,000 Jewish men and boys were arrested and sent to concentration camps. This is the 30th anniversary of the Kristallnacht Interfaith Confronting Bigotry Commemoration of the Capital Region, sponsored to unite the community against prejudice.
The Rescuers is the unique and inspiring documentary film about non-Jewish diplomats who helped save thousands of Jews during the Holocaust.
The Rescuers joins Holocaust historian Sir Martin Gilbert and Rwandan anti-genocideactivist Stephanie Nyombayire with Emmy winning director Michael King. They travel to 15 countries and three continents to explore the “mystery of goodness”—that characteristic in people who make morally correct decisions when facing genocide, despite the risk to themselves and their families.
“Contrary to common belief, people can put others before self and sacrifice for people they barely know...as exemplified by the families of those who were saved,” Nyombaire shares.
Nyombayire, who lost 100 members of her family in the Rwandan genocide, and Sir Martin Gilbert, who, as a child, was evacuated during the Battle of Britain and lost many of his family in the Holocaust, provide a unique counterbalance of generations in this film.
The program is sponsored by Holocaust Survivors & Friends Education Center, Community Relations Council of Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York, and the Judaic Studies program of the University at Albany.
The Kristallnacht commemoration features Holocaust survivors and members of the community representing faith groups of the entire Capital Region.