Monday, November 10, 2014

'Never Again' is a Broken Promise, it's a Broken Glass

      Today November 9th Marks two important events on the world calendar, it marks both  high  and low points in the history of the world and was remembered by many from different parts of the world with mixed emotions.
   For Germans, it marks what is know as Kristallnacht  or the beginning of the Holocaust and  also the 25th anniversary of  the demolishing of  the Berlin wall.
   For Jews from around the world it is a day filled with dark memory, hatred, death  and ethnic cleansing, for the  rest of the world it's a day for us to look at the past and try to figure out how to make sure that 'Never Again' is not  just a slogan but an attainable promise in the future.  Below are some other historical Nov 9th events :

 November 9-10, 1938 - Kristallnacht (the night of broken glass) occurred in Germany as Nazi mobs burned synagogues and vandalized Jewish shops and homes.
      
November 9, 1872 - The Great Boston Fire started in a dry-goods warehouse then spread rapidly in windy weather, destroying nearly 800 buildings. Damage was estimated at more than $75 million. The fire's bright red glare could be seen in the sky for nearly 100 miles.

   November 9, 1918 - German Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated his throne in the closing days of World War I and fled to Holland. In Germany, Philip Scheidemann, a Socialist leader, then proclaimed a democratic Republic and became its first Chancellor.

 
   November 9, 1965 - At 5:16 p.m., the Great Blackout of the Northeast began as a tripped circuit breaker at a power plant on the Niagara River caused a chain reaction sending power surges knocking out interconnected power companies down the East Coast. The blackout affected over 30 million persons, one-sixth of the entire U.S. population. Electricity also failed in Ontario and Quebec.

   November 9, 1989
- The Berlin Wall was opened up after standing for 28 years as a symbol of the Cold War. The 27.9 mile wall had been constructed in 1961.

   May 'Never Again' be a promise delivered.............