International March of the Living Convenes Global Law Enforcement Leaders in Berlin to Mark Kristallnacht Anniversary and Reaffirm Commitment to Protecting Jewish Communities
Senior police and law enforcement representatives from the Federal Republic of Germany, other European countries and the United States gathered last week at the New Synagogue in Berlin – Centrum Judaicum to mark the 88th anniversary of the November 1938 pogroms and affirm their responsibility to confront antisemitism and protect Jewish communities.
Convened under the banner “Not on Our Watch: Operationalizing Never Again,” the event is an initiative of the International March of the Living in partnership with Gewerkschaft der Polizei (GdP), EU.Pol, Rutgers University’s Miller Center on Policing and Community Resilience, the University of Virginia Center for Public Safety and Justice and the Jewish Community in Berlin.
The gathering is part of an international educational program through which senior police representatives participate in the March of the Living and deepen their understanding of the lessons of the Holocaust and their responsibility to protect Jewish communities in their own countries. The Berlin event was led by Jochen Kopelke, Federal Chairman of the GdP and President of EU.Pol, who participated in this year’s March of the Living and lit a torch dedicated to combating antisemitism alongside international colleagues.
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The event took place against a backdrop of attacks on synagogues, Jewish institutions and worshippers worldwide. According to a report published by Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Fighting Antisemitism, 244 incidents targeting synagogues, Chabad centers and worshippers in their vicinity were documented across 34 countries between October 7, 2023, and October 21, 2026. These included shootings, arson, physical assaults, vandalism, threats and thwarted plots. The United States accounted for the largest number of documented incidents, with 86, followed by Canada with 34, the United Kingdom with 24, France with 17, Australia with 12 and Germany with 11.
The program connected Holocaust remembrance with the responsibilities of democratic policing, including recognizing warning signs, confronting contemporary antisemitism and extremism, protecting vulnerable communities and building trust before a crisis occurs.
Phyllis Greenberg Heideman, President of the International March of the Living
“For the past three years, the International March of the Living has welcomed law enforcement leaders from around the world to stand with us in unity. When these men and women walk through Auschwitz-Birkenau side by side with multi-generational delegations from diverse communities around the globe and become witnesses to truth and the potential of man’s inhumanity to man, they also witness the strength and hope our partnership represents. It is there they commit to refute a climate in which law enforcement was complicit, where laws were corrupted and where institutions failed to protect the individual. For those charged with enforcing the law, this lesson carries special significance. The Holocaust reminds us that professional responsibility must always be grounded in moral responsibility.”
“As we face the alarming rise in antisemitism worldwide, our message is clear and unequivocal: An attack on Jews is not only an attack on a minority community. It is an attack on the rule of law. It is an attack on pluralism, and it is an attack on the values upon which free societies are built. When antisemitism is confronted professionally and with conviction, communities become safer. The responsibility to work for a better tomorrow belongs to each of us today. Together, we can ensure that the lessons of the Holocaust are not confined to history books but serve as a living commitment to protect human dignity, defend democratic values and ensure that hatred never prevails.”
Read Phyllis Greenberg Heideman’s full speech →
George Shefi returns to Berlin
George Shefi, 94, one of the last surviving witnesses to the November 1938 pogroms, returned to Berlin from Israel to address police representatives in the city he fled as a child. Almost seven at the time of the pogroms, Shefi stayed inside his Berlin home as the violence unfolded. When he emerged, he discovered that the synagogue housing his school had been burned to the ground. His mother subsequently sent him alone to Britain on a Kindertransport. He never saw her again; she and her sister were murdered at Auschwitz. In Berlin, he called on the world to fight antisemitism, protect Jewish life and ensure that Jews can live openly, without fear.
Watch and share George’s message →
Jochen Kopelke, Federal Chairman of the German Police Union (GdP) and President of EU.Pol
“The Federal Republic of Germany bears immense guilt. It cannot absolve itself of that guilt, now or ever. Our enduring obligation is to remember the unimaginable atrocities of the Holocaust. In view of the alarming increase in antisemitic acts in Germany, I feel compelled, as a citizen, as a democrat, as a trade unionist, as a police officer and, above all, as a human being, to use every means at my disposal to confront the terrible, deeply troubling and unmistakable rise of homegrown German antisemitism.”
Kopelke added: “In September, Chancellor Merz himself stated that Jewish life in Germany was no longer safe. Sadly, that is true. Police personnel will continue to protect Jewish life in Germany and consistently pursue those responsible for antisemitic attacks.”
Read Jochen Kopelke’s full speech →
Zachor (“Remember!”): A Berlin police officer’s courage in 1938
On the night of November 9, 1938, as Nazi mobs attacked Jewish communities across Germany, police officer Wilhelm Krützfeld and his colleagues intervened to protect Berlin’s New Synagogue. Eighty-eight years later, a commemoration in the synagogue he helped save brought his story to life through readings by German police officers from Zachor (“Remember!”), a book honoring his courage.
During the event, Sven Hüber and Jochen Kopelke of the German Police Union (GdP) presented the book to George Shefi, a survivor of the Holocaust and the November Pogroms. Shefi urged police officers to follow Krützfeld’s example and never stand by in the face of hate crimes and antisemitism.
The event concluded with the laying of white roses at the foot of the memorial plaque honoring Wilhelm Krützfeld’s courage, at the entrance to Berlin’s New Synagogue, a center of Jewish life in the city today.
Paul Goldenberg, Chairman, Operationalizing Never Again — Not on Our Watch
“Standing alongside our German counterparts in Berlin, police leaders from around the world affirmed our shared duty to protect human dignity, build trust, and safeguard every community. Jews, like everyone else, deserve to bring their children to synagogue without fear, to wear a Star of David openly, and to gather, pray, and live fully as Jews in the countries they call home. Democracy must be defended where people live, gather, and pray. Without police prepared to uphold the rule of law and protect the rights of every person, democracy cannot endure.”
Pasha Lyubarsky, Chairman of the Kahal Adass Jisroel Orthodox Jewish community in Berlin
Pasha Lyubarsky shared a deeply personal testimony at the International March of the Living’s Kristallnacht commemoration at Berlin’s New Synagogue. As a father of two sons, Arieh, 15, and Josh, 12, he described their fear of walking alone to synagogue because they are visibly Jewish. His children have been subjected to antisemitic harassment on the streets of Berlin, including shouts of “Free Palestine! Free Hamas!” In October 2023, his community’s synagogue on Brunnenstraße was attacked with Molotov cocktails by two masked individuals. The building also houses a Jewish school and kindergarten. Fortunately, no one was injured, and a police officer quickly extinguished the fire.
Addressing senior law enforcement leaders, Lyubarsky called for stronger education against antisemitism and zero tolerance for violence, threats and incitement. Above all, he expressed a father’s simple wish: that his sons could one day walk freely through Berlin, visibly Jewish, without fear. “I do not want to be loved as a Jew. I want to be respected as a human being,” he said, concluding with a powerful message:
“Never Again must mean more than remembering what happened. It must mean ensuring that it cannot happen again. That is our responsibility. Not on our watch.”
Read Pasha Lyubarsky’s full speech →
Five stones for the Jaffe family, Krausnickstraße 24
In Berlin, Richard and Phyllis Heideman, Revital Yakin Krakovsky and Robyn Baltuch of the International March of the Living participated in a Stolpersteine ceremony honoring Shani Yaffe’s family. Five memorial stones were laid outside the family’s former home at Krausnickstraße 24, commemorating Esther and Lazar Jaffe and their three children, Josef, Siegfried and Sonja.
The family’s story reflects both the devastation of the Holocaust and the paths that enabled some to survive. Lazar and Siegfried were expelled to Poland in 1938. Lazar managed to return to Berlin, but in 1939 he, Esther and Sonja were deported to Poland, where they were murdered in 1942. Josef fled to the Netherlands and survived in hiding before settling in Australia. Siegfried reached Australia in 1939 via a Kindertransport and later moved to Israel. Relatives from Israel and Australia attended the ceremony.
Set into the pavement and engraved with their names, the small brass memorial stones preserve the memory of a Jewish family whose life in Berlin was shattered by Nazi persecution. They invite passersby to pause, remember and recognize the individual lives behind the history.
As participants sang Vehi She’amda and Hatikvah, and in that moment, they felt hope — hope that despite every attempt to erase us, Jewish life will endure.
Read Revital Yakin Krakovsky’s reflections in eJewishPhilanthropy →
Making global news
- AP: Remembering Kristallnacht: Witness says night of terror risks being a lesson not learned
- AFP: ‘Last generation’: Kristallnacht survivor, 94, bears witness
- The Washington Post: Coverage of the Kristallnacht anniversary
- JTA: Kristallnacht survivor calls on German police to stand firm against hate
- EU Reporter: Germany cannot close the book on the Holocaust
- Ynetnews: ‘Same hatred of Jews still exists’: Berlin synagogue hosts global warning against rising antisemitism