Salzburg group to hold vigil for victims of 1938 pogroms

Omas gegen Rechts will hold a vigil in Salzburg on Monday to remember the November pogroms of 1938, ORF reports. The group says 70 Jewish families in Salzburg were deported and later murdered, and the vigil will also commemorate the burning of the synagogue.

The silent vigil is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. at the Marko Feingold footbridge. Christina Haslauer, who organises the annual event, said it was important to speak with young people and inform them about what happened, especially as fewer eyewitnesses remain to document the events.

Omas gegen Rechts began as a Facebook group in 2017 and is now a non-partisan civic initiative active in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and South Tyrol. Its members volunteer for causes including tolerance and human rights and campaign against right-wing extremism. The group says it has more than 1,000 members across Austria, including about 100 in Salzburg.

The term November pogroms refers mainly to the violence on the night of November 9 to 10, 1938. The attacks against Jews in the German Reich were organised and directed by the Nazi regime.