‘Last generation’: ‘Kristallnacht’ survivor, 94, bears witness

"Night of Broken Glass" (Kristallnacht) survivor George Shafi, who will be 95 on Nov. 29 in front of the Neue Synagoge in Berlin on Thursday | AFP-JIJI

AFP-Jiji

Nov 9, 2026

Berlin – For George Shefi, a 94-year-old survivor of Nazi Germany’s “Kristallnacht,“ bearing witness to the pogroms targeting Jews is his final “mission” — all the more urgent in the face of a renewed wave of anti-Semitism.

“Our generation is the last generation that can tell the true story,” Shefi said ahead of Monday’s 88th anniversary of the events, also remembered as the “Night of Broken Glass.”

The wave of violence unleashed by the Nazi regime on Nov. 9 to 10, 1938, saw at least 90 Jewish people killed and 1,400 synagogues set alight across Germany.

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