There could hardly have been a more powerfully symbolic setting for a ceremony to mark the 85th anniversary of the 1938 November pogroms than the Beth Zion synagogue.
The place of worship in the heart of Berlin was largely destroyed in the violence that exploded on the night of 9 November that year, when Nazi thugs carried out murderous, state-sponsored attacks on Jewish property and homes.
The building was painstakingly rebuilt and completed in 2014 on the original site. And then, three weeks ago, it was firebombed, attacked with molotov cocktails by two masked men as Germany witnessed a rise in antisemitic incidents in the wake of Israel’s war with Hamas.
On Thursday, with police marksmen and armoured vehicles guarding the synagogue, 102-year-old Margot Friedländer took her place in the congregation alongside family members of some of the 240 Israeli hostages currently being held captive by Hamas. » | Kate Connolly in Berlin | Thursday, November 9, 2023
