LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – Kristallnacht is known as the Night of Broken Glass.
It was Nov. 9, 1938, when Nazis went to as many Jewish-owned businesses and synagogues and violently vandalized anything they could.
“I was 14 years old when Kristallnacht took place,” survivor Alex Keuchel said.
85 years later, survivors such as Keuchel recalled the unforgettable terror of the Holocaust.
“When you go to a concentration camp you no longer exist any longer,” he said.
Keuchel, Jackie Beer, and Raymonde Fiol are all Holocaust survivors who live in Southern Nevada. They spoke to students of Canyon Springs High School on Thursday.
“My mother was murdered when I was 8 months old in a massacre,” Beer said.
“My parents never returned,” Fiol said.
The Holocaust was a pivotal part of history that students in Dr. Philip Riccobono’s class learned about.
“These people are aging out so it’s really important to get these students to meet these people and hear their stories, Riccobono said.
“There is a reason why we are here telling our story because it should never happen again,” Beer said.
The students gave them all their attention as they had the chance to look back in history.
“You cannot go through life living through the past, I wouldn’t be able to survive, Keuchel said.
Survivors also commented on the atrocities unfolding in the world right now.
“There is room for all of us, we need to respect each other,” Beer said.
About 80,000 Holocaust survivors are living in the United States, and a little more than 60 of them live in Southern Nevada.
