Holocaust survivors share tales at Seton Hill – Tribune-Review

Patti Dobranski, Tribune-Review

“The secret state police were at the door. They came to arrest my father. On Nov. 9, at 8:30 p.m., I lost my German citizenship. I said ‘Let’s get out of this hellish country.’ I just wanted to go somewhere else.”

But Nov. 9, 1938, was more than Blaustein’s personal hell. It would become known as “Kristallnacht” or “The Night of Broken Glass,” full of screams of despair as the Nazis began their attack on the Jews by burning synagogues and looting homes and businesses. This night would mark the beginning of the end of 6 million Jews across Europe at the hands of the Hitler’s Nazis.

The 81-year-old Mt. Lebanon, Allegheny County, resident told his story Tuesday night to a crowd that gathered inside St. Joseph Chapel at Seton Hill University for the 19th annual Kristallnacht Remembrance service sponsored by the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education.

I was in the back of the room, where the acoustics were not very good, so I was glad to find this account of Blaustein’s speech.