15th Annual

Kristallnacht Commemoration 

Sunday, November 14 | 9 AM

Please join us for our Annual Community-Wide Kristallnacht Commemoration. This year, we will honor the conscience and heroism of Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens, Greece, who risked his life by ordering the churches under his jurisdiction to distribute baptismal certificates to Jews fleeing the Nazis, thus saving thousands of Jews in and around Athens. For his deeds he was named " Righteous Among the Nations" by Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Center.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS:

• A Yellow Holocaust Memorial candle is lit
• Rabbi Alvin Wainhaus of Cong. Or-Shalom  briefly recounts the events of Kristallnacht
• His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America offers up a prayer
• Comments by Father  Peter Orfanakos of St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church, Orange, CT 
• U.S. Senate citation presented by Sen. Richard Blumenthal to Archibishop Damaskinos' family
• Comments by the Director of Education,  American Society for Yad Vashem
• Comments by descendants of those rescued by Archbishop Damaskinos
• Questions & Answers led by Judy Alperin, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven 

The Community-Wide Commemoration of Kristallnacht is presented by Congregation Or Shalom with support from the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven. Thank you to the American Society for Yad Vashem and to our community partners, the Connecticut ADL, and the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford.