Page 2506 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 14 November 1989
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the Reichstag. In 1933, the Nazis proclaimed a general boycott of all Jewish owned businesses, and Jews were dismissed from the civil service and denied admission to the bar. It was also at this time that books written by Jews and opponents of Nazism were burnt. In 1935, "Juden verboten" - "No Jews" - signs were increased in number outside towns, villages and restaurants and, of course, in stores. But after Kristallnacht the scale and level of persecution against the Jewish people intensified.
Mr Speaker, three days after the fateful night, 26,000 Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Also, in December that year, the Nazis enacted a Bill for the compulsory expropriation of Jewish industries, businesses and shops. It was between 1939 and 1944 that the extensive deportations and horrific mass extermination of the Jews that is now well known to all of us took place.
Generally, Mr Speaker, in the ACT Kristallnacht is not commemorated in any significant way. I must say that I am deeply shamed that there are some - a very, very small minority - who refuse to recognise the terrors that were committed against the Jewish people. I think the reason why I have raised it now is that it is quite close to a day of significance, 9 November. Last year, however, was the fiftieth anniversary and, of course, special events were organised, including tree planting and a seminar. The main day that is commemorated in the ACT, as indeed all over the world, is Yom Shoah, the Holocaust memorial day, and that will be remembered in April 1990. Mr Speaker, I think it is appropriate for this place to note with horror the acts and atrocities which were committed against the Jewish people in those terrible times.
Holocaust
MR COLLAERY (5.06): Mr Speaker, I am somewhat puzzled by the drift of the adjournment debate. We were not sitting last week, and I presume it was the intention of the members of the ALP who have spoken to commemorate the Holocaust. That is entirely appropriate and proper and should be close to our minds. I think my colleague Mr Humphries was puzzled but did not have the chance I have had to work out what was going on. There was no mention of the anniversary last week to remind the rest of us.
On a day when, as Minister Grassby said, she rose to speak about the coming down of the Berlin Wall, it might be appropriate to wish the German people well in the same context. I thought perhaps Minister Berry could have gone on to say that. Against the background of all that suffering, and speaking as someone whose father perished at the hands of the Germans in the last war, I feel that we must look towards the most significant developments of the last week in the context of the duty of the German people to recognise the past, as indeed they have. When I was in
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