What was a devastating reality for Holocaust survivors is now a virtual reality for students at one Brooklyn high school.

Nov. 9 marks 86 years since “Kristallnacht” or “The Night of Broken Glass,” which is considered marking the beginning of the Holocaust.


What You Need To Know

  • Nov. 9 marks 86 years since “Kristallnacht’ or “The Night of Broken Glass,” which is considered to mark the beginning of the Holocaust

  • Students at Edward R. Murrow High School in Midwood, Brooklyn, are among the first in the nation to experience “Inside Kristallnacht.” It’s a virtual reality project that integrates real-life footage and photographs with narration from a Holocaust survivor

  • About 245,000 Jewish Holocaust survivors are still alive now and 20% are over the age of 90

Students at Edward R. Murrow High School in Midwood, Brooklyn, are among the first in the nation to experience “Inside Kristallnacht." It's a virtual reality project that integrates real-life footage and photographs with narration from a Holocaust survivor.

“There was the big department store, Urlfelder, and we saw how the windows were smashed,” Dr. Charlotte Knobloch, who was born in Munich, Germany, said. “But of course, what use is beauty if all the people who went to the synagogue are crying?”

On that night in 1938, Nazi forces launched a coordinated attack on Germany, killing dozens of Jews, detaining 30,000 of them and destroying thousands of synagogues and businesses.

“I went in the morning by subway to the city and I passed by stores where the broken glass was, where they robbed the stores,” said Holocaust survivor Kurt Goldschmidt who, at 15 years old, walked to work amid the destruction.

A year later, Nazis ordered him to build war materials and then he was sent to a concentration camp.

On Monday, Goldschmidt shared his story with dozens of students.

“I couldn’t imagine myself being the same age as them and going through the same thing. Compared to what we go through every day and what they had to deal with, it’s a completely different thing,” Nikita Zhurvel, a sophomore at Edward R. Murrow High School, said.

So far, this program has come to three schools, with two more stops planned for Berlin and Tel Aviv. These young people say it’s important to remember the events of the Holocaust and recognize the warning signs.

“It was such a fast pipeline from getting into power and then full-on extermination. I feel like we really need to understand that process, so it doesn’t happen again,” Roan Porter, a sophomore at Edward R. Murrow High School, said.

About 245,000 Jewish Holocaust survivors are still alive now, and 20% are over the age of 90.

The Claims Conference negotiates with the German government for reparations for survivors of the Holocaust. It partnered with the USC Shoah Foundation and Meta to bring this project to life, developing new ways to preserve survivors’ stories.

“The stories are captured today, but these are going to be timeless stories and timeless experiences so we think the implications of the future for this program is one that can have tremendous impact here in New York and beyond,” Gideon Taylor, the president of the Claims Conference, said.

At 101 years old, Goldschmidt says he is grateful he will be able to share his story even after he’s gone.

“It should not be forgotten. The people who live nowadays should know about it and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he said.

Anyone can access this virtual tour and curriculum by logging on to insidekristallnacht.org.