Meet us at The Barn on Sunday for a field trip to the “Witnessing History” exhibit at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Second Life.
WHEN: Sunday, 12 February 2023
TIME: 4:30 p.m. SLT (same as Pacific Time) <– NOTE NEW TIME
WHERE: Meet at The Barn at the Family History Center SLurl
Witnessing History is an immersive exhibit focused on a single event – Kristallnacht, or “The Night of Broken Glass.” In this exhibit, you will take on the role of a journalist, recalling the testimony of eyewitnesses as you investigate what happened during the November 1938 pogroms.
Kristallnacht refers to the wave of violent anti-Jewish pogroms which took place on November 9 and 10, 1938 throughout Germany, annexed Austria, and in areas of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia recently occupied by German troops.
Encouraged by the Nazi regime, rioters burned or destroyed 267 synagogues, vandalized or looted 7,500 Jewish businesses. and killed at least 91 Jewish people. They also damaged many Jewish cemeteries, hospitals, schools, and homes as police and fire brigades stood aside. Kristallnacht (“Crystal Night” or “Night of Broken Glass”) owes its name to the shards of shattered glass that lined German streets in the wake of the pogrom – broken glass from the windows of synagogues, homes, and Jewish-owned businesses plundered and destroyed during the violence.
It was a turning point in history. The pogroms marked an intensification of Nazi anti-Jewish policy that would culminate in the Holocaust – the systematic, state-sponsored murder of Jews.
U.S. Holocaust Museum Exhibit
The exhibit’s design was inspired by the stories of Kristallnacht survivors. You are encouraged to explore and touch everything.
A brief business meeting will be held before the field trip.
Genealogists of all levels are welcome at our meetings. You do not need to be a member of the SLVGS in order to attend, but we’d love it if you’d join!
