Light Up The Church

February 2025: Kristallnacht News Update

Thank you again for signing the Kristallnacht declaration. Every month we send a few stories about Kristallnacht and the Holocaust that made the news in the previous month. Towards November 2025 we will share information about Light Up The Church 2024.

Below is the update from the stories of February 2025.

  • ‘Cold-Blooded Extermination’: The Allied Governments’ December 1942 Declaration on the Holocaust

    In December 1942, amid growing optimism from recent Allied victories, a joint statement by 11 Allied nations publicly condemned the Nazi regime’s systematic extermination of Jews, marking a clear acknowledgment of what would later be known as the Holocaust. This declaration revealed the Allies’ awareness of Nazi atrocities, yet questions remain about how much they truly understood and what concrete actions they took in response. Visitors to The National WWII Museum often grapple with when the Allies learned of the genocide, how they interpreted this knowledge, and what they did—or failed to do—about it.

  • Bob Kirk, a Kindertransport refugee who dedicated his life to Holocaust education, dies at 99

    Ann and Bob Kirk, both Holocaust survivors who arrived in the UK via the Kindertransport, spent 74 years together and dedicated their lives to Holocaust education and remembrance. Bob, originally Rudolf Kirchheimer, experienced increasing persecution in Nazi Germany before fleeing in 1939 and later meeting Ann in London. Their deep involvement in the Jewish community and efforts with the Association of Jewish Refugees left a lasting legacy, with Bob’s testimony preserved in the Refugee Voices archive.

  • Holocaust survivor offers powerful history lesson

    Marking 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz, Holocaust survivor shares a deeply moving account to honor International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The video offers a powerful firsthand lesson about the horrors endured and the importance of remembering history. It serves as a poignant reminder of resilience, survival, and the urgent need to confront hatred.

  • Holocaust survivor speaks for International Holocaust Remembrance Day

    Holocaust survivor Shelly Weiner, who endured life in a ghetto, lost most of her family, was wounded, and hid underground for 28 months by age seven, shared her story with a full auditorium at Wake Forest University on Jan. 29 in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day wfuogb.com . Born in Rovno, Ukraine, she recalled a loving early childhood and then the trauma of Nazi occupation—being forced into a ghetto, separated from loved ones, narrowly escaping capture, and ultimately living beneath a neighbor’s barn until liberation in 1944 wfuogb.com . Now based in Greensboro, Weiner emphasized the importance of speaking up against antisemitism today and educating younger generations so that history does not repeat itself wfuogb.com

  • An ‘intimate history’ of Australia and the Holocaust

    Holocaust scholarship in Australia is evolving through new work like The Palgrave Handbook of Australia and the Holocaust, which explores the complex historical connections, migration policies, and educational initiatives—such as mandatory curriculum in NSW and Victoria—highlighting both contributions by Jewish refugees and the nation’s grappling with its colonial legacy camd.org.au . As contemporary antisemitism and renewed public interest bring these stories to the fore, Australia continues to face the challenge of integrating Holocaust memory with its own indigenous and historical narratives .

  • Bearing witness: Portraits of Holocaust survivors

    Photographer Gillian Laub captured powerful portraits of Holocaust survivors—models of resilience and strength—who emphasize the urgent need to share their stories as the survivor generation rapidly dwindles. Her project, Live2Tell, has grown to over 300 images and serves as a poignant response to both fading Holocaust awareness and rising antisemitism, ensuring these firsthand testimonies endure.