November 9 – International Day Against Fascism, Racism and Antisemitism. It was established by the initiative of the UNITED International Network Against Racism, which unites over 500 organizations from 49 countries.
On the night of November 9-10, 1938, a wave of anti-Jewish actions, known as the “Crystal Night” was launched in Nazi Germany and its territories under its control. It was a massive campaign of physical violence and terror against Jews directly controlled by Nazi government of the Third Reich.
The reason for the start of the Jewish pogroms was murder of Ernst vom Rath, adviser to the German Embassy in Paris, by a 17-year-old Polish Jew Herschel Grynszpan on November 7, 1938. In response to this act, with the support of the Nazi authorities, on the night of November 9-10, Jewish pogrom was organized in dozens of German cities (including the territory of Austria and the Sudeten region).
At least 91 Jews were killed in one night, hundreds were wounded. About 3,500 local Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald and Dachau. On the same night, 267 synagogues, 7,500 trade and commercial enterprises, hundreds of Jewish homes were burned down or ruined.
In memory of this event, November 9th is marked as the International Day against Fascism, Racism and Antisemitism.