14th Annual Kristallnacht Commemoration, Nov. 15

Congregation Or Shalom in Orange and the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven will sponsor the 14th Annual Community-Wide Kristallnacht Commemoration to be held Sunday, Nov. 15, on Zoom. This year’s commemoration will pay tribute to Odd Nansen for his conscience and heroism. Nansen financed and operated an orphanage in Oslo, Norway for Jews and others facing imminent death in Nazi-occupied Europe. Sent to a concentration camp by the Nazi Gestapo, Nansen kept a secret diary there which later became an important testimony to the realities of the Holocaust. In the camp, Nansen risked his life in order to save inmates. 

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal will present a U.S. Senate Commendation to the Nansen daily; and attorney Timothy Boyce, who republished From Day to Day, the secret diary of Odd Nansen. Register at jewishnewhaven.org/RSVP

14th Annual Kristallnacht Lecture, Nov. 19

Holocaust survivor Endre (Andy) Sarkany will be guest speaker at the 14th Annual Kristallnacht Lecture to be held on Thursday Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. The Zoom lecture is presented by the Farmington Libraries.

Sarkany, a Connecticut resident, was born in Budapest, Hungary on October 31, 1936. The building he lived in was located inside the Budapest ghetto, which is where he remained throughout the Holocaust. His father was taken to Mauthausen concentration camp in the spring of 1944, where he was fortunate to survive. Following World War II, Sarkany continued to face oppression under Hungary’s communist regime. He escaped Hungary after the October 1956 uprising and immigrated to the United States. 

The lecture is free, but registration is required. For more information, visit Farmingtonlibraries.org or call (860) 673-6791.