Today, the world once again pauses before the ominous shadow of fascism and antisemitism, marking the International Day for Combating these evils. In 2025, the focus of the commemoration is on the urgent need for counteraction, sending a categorical message: "Speak now – the fight against fascism is not radical, it is necessary!" This is emphasized by the "Reference" department of the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA), whose archives are filled with documents witnessing the dark times of these ideologies.
The day has been observed since 1992, thanks to the initiative of the European network for combating nationalism, racism, fascism, antisemitism and xenophobia, known as "United for Intercultural Interaction". Symbolically, the day is associated with the sad anniversary of "Kristallnacht" – the night of November 9-10, 1938 in Germany, when one of the most brutal pogroms against Jews in history took place.
The archives of BTA contain detailed information about the events of that nightmarish night in Berlin and other German cities. We witness the horror: Jewish shops were looted and destroyed, dozens of synagogues were burned, and the streets were strewn with glittering shards of glass from broken shop windows. This hell was given the name "Kristallnacht".
The pogrom, carried out on the personal order of Adolf Hitler, with the active participation of Paul Goebbels and Heinrich Himmler, was presented as an outburst of "popular anger". The reason for this madness was the assassination on November 7, 1938 of an advisor to the German ambassador in France by a 17-year-old youth of Jewish origin. The victims of this night of horror were 91 people, and about 20,000 people were deported to concentration camps. At the same time, about 280 synagogues and 815 Jewish shops were destroyed. Today, more than ever, we must remember this and realize the importance of the fight against fascism and antisemitism.