Holocaust commemoration on the “Night of Broken Glass” | Venice

NAPLES | The Catholic-Jewish Dialogue of Collier County (CJD) invites the community to its annual memorial service for Kristallnacht, or “Night of Broken Glass,” which historians consider to be the beginning of the Holocaust.

The free public event will be held on Sunday, November 17, 2024 at 2:30 p.m. at St. John the Evangelist Parish, 625 111th Ave. N., Naples instead.

Kristallnacht tells of the attacks on Jewish communities across Germany on November 9th and 10th, 1938. The Kristallnacht commemoration commemorates the six million Jews who were exterminated during the Holocaust.

“The Collier County Catholic-Jewish Dialogue has worked for more than 20 years in search of a deeper understanding of the bonds that unite rather than divide,” said Ginny Segaloff, memorial program chair. “And even though 86 years have passed since Kristallnacht, the lessons of the Holocaust remain as important and necessary as ever.”

The guest speaker is John Koenigsberg, who will share his Holocaust survival story. In the spring of 1943, five-year-old John was taken by the Dutch resistance to the home of Johannes and Anna Snijckers. The Catholic family protected John despite the threat of great personal danger from the Nazi occupiers. Koenigsberg was lovingly welcomed by “Mama and Papa” Snijckers as their fifth child and welcomed as their little brother by the couple's other four children. He attended the same Catholic elementary school as the other children and was reunited with his parents after the war ended.

The CJD is affiliated with the Jewish Federation of Greater Naples and the Collier County Parishes of the Diocese of Venice. Its purpose is to encourage Catholics and Jews to understand history and to advance mutual understanding and appreciation of differences and similarities.

The event, which marks its return to in-person gatherings after several years of exclusively virtual events, is sponsored by CJD, the Diocese of Venice in Florida, the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Naples, SWFL's GenShoah, and the Holocaust Museum & Janet G. and Harvey D. Cohen Education Center. The venue rotates annually between Jewish temples and community centers and Catholic communities.

Everyone is welcome; pre-registration is requested at https://jfgn.regfox.com/kristallnacht-2024. A reception will follow the lecture.