3 minute read

Kristallnacht Service

By Ginny Segaloff, Kristallnacht Committee Chair

The Catholic-Jewish Dialogue of Collier County invites the community to its annual Kristallnacht Commemorative Service scheduled to take place on Sunday, Nov. 6, 2022, 2:30 p.m. at Temple Shalom (4630 Pine Ridge Road, Naples). This free event is open to the public. We encourage everyone to register at www.jewishnaples.org so we know how many to expect.

The Catholic-Jewish Dialogue of Collier County is affiliated with Jewish Federation of Greater Naples and the Collier County parishes of the Diocese of Venice, Florida. The committee’s purpose is to engage Catholics and Jews in studying our history, advancing the causes of mutual understanding and appreciation of our shared foundation, and respecting our differences.

“Kristallnacht,” the “Night of Broken Glass,” recounts the attacks on Jewish communities throughout Germany on Nov. 9-10, 1938. Kristallnacht is recognized by most historians as “the Night the Holocaust began.” This upcoming event will memorialize the 6 million Jews, and millions of others, whose lives were exterminated as part of “The Final Solution.” We remember and honor all those who perished, the survivors and all their families.

Over 80 years later, the Holocaust still challenges mankind’s ability to comprehend man’s inhumanity to man.

Our guest speaker will be Dr. Suzanne Brown-Fleming, the Director of International Academic Programs for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Dr. Brown-Fleming’s programs ensure that the field of Holocaust studies remains vital and vibrant around the world.

Her work has been featured in the Catholic News Service, Catholic News Agency and The Catholic Virginian. She has appeared on CNN, EWTN Global Catholic Television Network and in several documentaries, including “Holy Silence” (2020). Dr. Brown-Fleming is a 2021- 22 Distinguished Fellow at the Institute for Contemporary History’s Center for Holocaust Studies in Munich and Berlin.

Her current research project, “Il Papa Tedesco (The German Pope): Eugenio Pacelli and Germany, 1917-1958,” is a study of Pope Pius XII’s relationship to Germany and its bishops, leaders and people during the Weimar era, the Third Reich and the Holocaust.

Another current project, “Opa War Ein Nazi (Grandpa Was a Nazi): Eduard Geist and the Crimes of the Third Reich,” is Dr. Brown-Fleming’s first attempt to research and write as both a decadeslong scholar of the Holocaust and the granddaughter of a devout and locally prominent Nazi.

Because of Dr. Suzanne Brown- Fleming’s extensive work and research into the role of the Catholic church during this period of time, her topic will be “November 1938: Perspectives from the Vatican Archives.”

This article is from: