Yad Vashem USA Foundation’s commemoration of the 88th anniversary of Kristallnacht, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026.
Photo by Ramy Mahmoud
Music rescued from the ruins of Kristallnacht was performed in NYC for the first time on Sunday during “Spread the Light,” Yad Vashem USA Foundation’s annual commemoration marking the 88th anniversary of the Nazi Germany pogrom.
The selections came from a handwritten choir songbook that survived the burning of Mannheim’s Klaus Synagogue. More than a dozen Holocaust survivors attended the event on the Upper West Side on Nov. 8 and participated in a memorial candle-lighting ceremony.
Cantor Azi Schwartz, senior cantor of Park Avenue Synagogue, performed several selections from the preserved songbook, which contains music written by the synagogue’s cantor, Avraham-Dov (Arthur) Kohn. Brothers Schlomo and Yosef Stein salvaged the collection from the ruins, preserving music from a Jewish community devastated by Nazi persecution.
The program also featured a keynote conversation between author Dara Horn and Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan, moderated by NBC 4 New York anchor Adam Kuperstein.
“Accuracy and truth matter,” Dayan said. “Our role is to amplify the words written and spoken by victims and survivors as much as we can. The universal significance of the Shoah cannot be detached from the particular history of the Jewish people. We have a responsibility to honor the dead and no less of a responsibility to live fully as Jews.”
Dayan also discussed the role of education in combating antisemitism, emphasizing the importance of teaching students about Jewish life before the Holocaust and the community’s efforts to rebuild afterward.
Horn, a New York Times best-selling author, spoke about the resilience of Jewish communities throughout history.
“Judaism is a 3,000-year-old anti-tyrannical movement,” Horn said. “What I find so valuable about Jewish history is not that it’s a litany of horror; rather, it’s Jewish people [who] made counter-cultural choices to continue this story despite the horrors faced.”
Broadway star Steven Skybell, accompanied by pianist Zalmen Mlotek, performed “The Sabbath Prayer” from “Fiddler on the Roof” in Yiddish, followed by “Unter Di Poylishe Grinninke Beymelekh,” a song dedicated to the memory and lost voices of the 1.5 million Jewish children murdered in the Holocaust.
“It was an honor to organize this sold-out Kristallnacht commemoration with more than 400 attendees and more than 30 partner organizations representing Jews from all walks of life,” said Tamar Major, national director of Yad Vashem USA Foundation. “The participation of so many Holocaust survivors made the gathering especially meaningful. Yad Vashem is at the forefront of Holocaust remembrance and education around the world.”
