Today, in History

Today marks two very important anniversaries in German history. One is as awful as the other is wonderful. Between these two, we see the darkest part of human nature, and those who gave us hope for a better tomorrow.

On November 9, 1938, the Nazis launched Kristallnacht, or “Night of Broken Glass.” This was the first major step of what would eventually become the Holocaust. Nazi soldiers throughout Germany and Austria smashed the windows of Jewish-owned businesses, homes, schools, and synagogues, killed at least one hundred Jewish people, and arrested approximately 30,000 Jewish men, sending them to concentration camps for several months.

Although other countries protested Germany’s actions, no serious consequences came to the Nazis. This may have led them to greater confidence in conducting the Holocaust over the next several years, an event resulting in the murder of more than six million Jews and many other targeted populations.

However, today also marks an anniversary that I will never forget: the day the Berlin Wall came down. The East German government had meant to create a gateway through which a limited number of people with approved papers could visit the west and return again to the east. But the gateway was flooded with more people than the border guards could manage. Eventually they stood back, powerless against the spirit of a people who had caught the scent of freedom and now were demanding more.

I remember sitting at the dinner table with my mom as we watched it all happen on television. We were literally stunned. Nobody had expected this turn of events, and nobody knew what the end result of it would be.

But there was great power in watching the people themselves refuse to be imprisoned by their own government for even one more day. Their actions were a powerful lesson to all of us – that each of us is in control of our own lives, and we will not accept that life behind anyone else’s walls.

A NIGHT DIVIDED is the story of Gerta Lowe, whose family is divided the night the Berlin Wall goes up, and what she intends to do to bring them together again.

RESISTANCE is based on the true story of the Jewish teenagers in Krakow who fought back against the Nazis.

And, since I’m plugging my books, if you haven’t yet read WORDS ON FIRE, the story of the Lithuanian book smugglers, please do. Anderson’s Bookshop in Chicago lists it on their Mock Newbury list for the year, and it was a best book of the month on Amazon.