At the celebration to commemorate the Kristallnacht in 1938, the present is also very present: “We want to live freely in Germany, in our country,” says the President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster.
Above, on the gallery of the synagogue on Berlin’s Brunnenstrasse, sits a group of women and men who are all wearing similar T-shirts under their winter jackets. Black and printed with photos of their relatives kidnapped in Hamas’ horrific attack on Israel on October 7th. Downstairs, in the interior, Josef Schuster, President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, is about to say: “Protection is good and, especially now, important. But we don’t want protective shields. We want to live freely in Germany, in our country.” And outside, on the largely closed street, snipers stand right next to a tank-like police vehicle that is used in the event of terrorism or to clear burning barricades from the street.