WASHINGTON — Jews worldwide will remember the 80th anniversary of
Kristallnacht Nov. 9.
In a direct German translation, it means "Crystal
Night," but it is more commonly thought of as "Night of Broken
Glass," as Nazis and their sympathizers rampaged through Germany — which
by this time had absorbed Austria and the Sudetenland.
On the morning after Kristallnacht, or the "Night of Broken Glass," local residents watch as the synagogue in Ober-Ramstadt, Germany, is destroyed by fire in 1938. CNS photo/United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy Trudy Isenberg
More than 7,000 Jewish-owned stores and businesses were damaged,
more than 250 synagogues destroyed, more than 3,000 Jews arrested and sent to
concentration camps, and nearly 100 more killed during the rampages, which
shocked the world.
It was an open question, though, as to how American Catholics
felt about Kristallnacht, which some had likened to a pogrom in which Jews are
forcibly exiled. Father Charles Coughlin, the "radio priest" during
the Depression, had been for years salting anti-Semitic commentary into his
weekly broadcasts, which reached tens of millions of people, despite the
grumblings of several U.S. bishops who wanted him off the air.
But it was the discovery in The Catholic University of America's
archives in 2004 of an old, scratched record, labeled only "Catholic
Protest Against Nazis — Nov. 16, 1938," that set the wheels in motion for
a long-overdue reconsideration of Catholic attitudes toward anti-Semitism in
general, and Kristallnacht in particular.
The record, which was unplayable with the university's own
equipment, had to be sent elsewhere to be digitized. What it contained was a
half-hour program featuring Catholic bishops from across the nation, and former
New York Gov. Al Smith, who later became the first Catholic presidential
nominee of a major political party in 1928, roundly condemning the Nazis' actions and
expressing solidarity with Jews under the Nazis' rule.
Based on the discovery of that disc, Catholic University is
hosting its own Kristallnacht remembrance Nov. 16, the 80th anniversary of that
broadcast.
The free event will feature performances by faculty and students
of musical selections by Jewish composers, and a composition written by
Catholic University music professor Joseph Santo, "Malachey Elyon"
("Messengers of the Most High"), which incorporates texts from the
broadcast.
Speakers will include university president John Garvey; Zion
Evrony, former Israeli ambassador to the Vatican and a visiting Catholic
University professor; CUA education archivist Maria Mazzenga on her research of
the recording; and Jacqueline Leary-Warsaw, dean of CUA's School of Music,
Drama and Art.
After determining the record's content, "I contacted the
folks at the (United States) Holocaust (Memorial) Museum," said Mazzenga
in a Nov. 6 telephone interview with Catholic News Service. "This was
something huge," she added. "It's changed the literature on Catholic
responses to the Holocaust — distinctly Catholic responses."
Further fruits from the recording netted a front-page New York
Times article on the broadcast the day after it aired on both NBC and CBS — a
joint presentation unusual even then for competing networks.
Mazzenga also was able to track down five legal-size pages
featuring the full transcript of the broadcast distributed by CNS' predecessor,
National Catholic Welfare Conference News Service. "NCWC did a great job
publicizing" the events of the time, she said. Mazzenga later edited a
book and contributed an essay in a series of academic papers presented at a
Holocaust Museum workshop inspired by the discovery.
A little further digging in the CUA archives found correspondence
that spanned nearly a year between Irving Sherman, head of the Atlas Publishing
and Novelty Co. of New York City, and Catholic figures who spoke on the
broadcast.
In a Nov. 25, 1938, letter to Cardinal Dennis Dougherty of
Philadelphia, Sherman wrote: "I, and I believe millions of others, cannot
believe in your sincerity to teach democracy while you have a Father Coughlin
openly preaching hate against his fellowmen," with the "e"
printed by hand over the typed "a."
Father Charles Edward Coughlin was a Canadian-American priest
based in Detroit who used radio to reach a mass audience. During the 1930s, an
estimated 30 million listeners tuned to his weekly broadcasts. He eventually
was forced off the air in 1939 because of his pro-fascist and anti-Semitic
rhetoric.
Sherman received a reply from Cardinal Dougherty, but it must
have been unsatisfactory, for the businessman wrote back to the prelate:
"With the Catholic Church and it strong organization, there should be no
difficulty in squelching Father Coughlin at all. Instead of being humble and
fully admitting that he did not tell the truth in regards to his accusations
against the Jews, International Bankers, etc., he now shouts it further."
Later, in a missive to Catholic University rector Father Joseph
Corrigan — later a bishop — Sherman complained about the "so called man of
God Father Coughlin."
Father Corrigan wrote back: "Those who would stigmatize the
Catholic Church for such conduct of one individual come very close themselves
to the standard of judgment which they deplore when applied to themselves. It
would be a wrong, and it truly is, to condemn Jews for the culpable actions of
some Jews. How, then, can it be right to blame the Catholic Church for the
attitude of one member?
"I have written you to this extent, my dear Mr. Sherman, in
the hope that you will understand the difficulties of our position."
Thus began a fairly fruitful exchange between the two. In a
letter to Father Corrigan dated Sept. 15, 1939 — two weeks after World War II
began in Europe — Sherman sounded hopeful. "Our mayor is now taking
evidence so as to prosecute the speakers who incite to riot and I think that
now that Russia and Germany have aligned themselves together, these conditions
of which I complain of may be eliminated."
He added that fellow members of the Jewish War Veterans of
America were planning to sue Father Coughlin for his on-air remarks. It took
another year, but Father Coughlin was forced off the air. The priest was
silenced by the Vatican in 1942.
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