Kristallnacht Remnants Found Near Berlin

Journalist uncovers wreckage dumped after Nazi assault on Jews in Nov. 1938

By Michael Roston, Newser User

Posted Oct 21, 2008 7:55 PM CDT

(Newser) – Weeks before Jews mark the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, wreckage from the Nazi pogrom against Jews across Germany and Austria has been uncovered. Acting on a tip from a local, an Israeli journalist bills as a “historic discovery” a dump site the size of four football fields near Berlin. He's calling on the German government to get involved, reports Der Spiegel.

Yaron Svoray turned up relics including an elaborate backrest he believes typical of those found in synagogues in the late 1930s. An official from Israel's Ghetto Fighters' Museum concurred that a glass bottle marked with a Star of David is probably “from the period before Kristallnacht.” The museum is seeking to send its experts to further investigate the find.

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The interior of the Zerrennerstrasse synagogue after its destruction on Kristallnacht in November 1938. (StadtArchiv Pforzheim)

The Fasanenstrasse Synagogue in Berlin after it was set on fire by a Nazi mob during the "Kristallnacht" riots in November 1938. (Getty Images)

A worker clearing broken glass of a Jewish shop following the anti-Jewish riots of Kristallnacht in Berlin. (Getty Images)

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In all probability, what we're dealing with here are remains from Kristallnacht. - Israel journalist Yaron Svoray

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Kristallnacht Remnants Found Near Berlin