Six members of the Greenport Ecumenical Ministries, an association of local clergy, took part in the 70^th anniversary remembrance of Kristallnacht, a night of violence against Jews unleashed by the Nazi Party. The pogroms that night set the stage for the Holocaust that ultimately took the lives of six million people.  The Kristallnacht observance took place at 3 p.m., at Congregation Tifereth Israel in Greenport, on Sunday, Nov. 9 -- exactly 70 years since Nov. 9, 1938, the date that the pogroms occurred. The public attended  in substantial numbers and participated in the open forum that followed the formal presentation.
       The service was led by Rabbi Myron Fenster, spiritual leader of Greenport's Jewish congregation. Participating with Rabbi Fenster were the Rev. Thomas Murray of St. Agnes Roman Catholic Church in Greenport, the Rev. Beverly Furey of the Orient United Methodist Church, the Rev. Lorraine DeArmitt of the Southold United Methodist Church, the Rev. Ann Van Cleef of the Orient Congregational Church, and the Rev. Garrett Johnson of St. Peters Lutheran Church in Greenport.
Kristallnacht, literally "the night of broken glass," refers to the shards of shattered glass that littered the streets in Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland in the wake of the pogroms. By the time the melee had abated, rioters had destroyed more than 200 synagogues, many of which burned throughout the night. Mobs roaming the streets had sacked and looted more than 8,000 Jewish shops, and tens of thousands of Jewish males were arrested and sent to Dachau, Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen and other concentration camps. Kristallnacht represents the first instance of Jewish persecution on a massive scale.
The program began with a tape of Rosemarie Birman's recollections of that night in Frankfurt a/m Germany plus personal remarks and historical perspectives by the participating clergy, followed by questions from members of Shalom Teens, an organization of young people from the North Fork's three synagogues -- Congregation Tifereth Israel, the North Fork Reform Synagogue, and Temple Israel of Riverhead. Then, at the open community forum, visitors asked questions of the clergy and participated in the discussion.
Congregation Tifereth Israel is located at 519 Fourth Street in Greenport. Those attending the event were invited to visit the synagogue's sanctuary, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Click below for pdf copies of reporter Joyce Beckenstein's coverage of the forum in the November 13th issue of the Suffolk Times.  Copyright Times Review newspapers.
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