On the 88th anniversary of Kristallnacht, Lantos Foundation President Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett issued the following statement:

November 9 and 10 mark the 88th anniversary since Kristallnacht, the Nazi organized pogrom in which mobs across Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland rampaged across cities, murdering innocent Jews and burning thousands of businesses, homes and over 1,400 synagogues. I try to imagine how my fellow Jews felt during this night of terror and the knot in my stomach twists. It was, of course, the prelude to the almost incomprehensible horrors of the Holocaust.

Shockingly, on the eve of this anniversary, our current homegrown generation of antisemites organized a demonstration and boycott against Jewish-owned businesses in the City of Brotherly Love. Thankfully, America is not Germany of 1938. In response to the despicable Philadelphia boycott, hundreds, maybe thousands of local citizens, Jews and non-Jews alike, poured into central Philly to patronize the targeted businesses and to express their solidarity with the Jewish people and the Jewish state. I am genuinely grateful for the powerful and positive response of so many good people.

Still, it cannot be denied that open antisemitism is being normalized in many quarters, particularly in our politics. We must not turn away from this gathering storm of hate directed at the most persecuted people in history. We must face it and defeat it with all our heart, mind and strength. I believe we will.