Images of pro-independence protest in Spanish TV report on Kristallnacht stirs anger

Spanish private TV Telecinco included images of a Catalan pro-independence protest in a report on Germany’s Kristallnacht and the events commemorating that infamous night of pogroms against the Jews 80 years ago.

The Catalan audiovisual authority (CAC), the one safeguarding political pluralism in the media, has announced that it will review the case.

The report on its news show gave some context on the events considered as the beginning of the Holocaust, and then an excerpt of the German chancellor Angela Merkel in Rykestrasse Synagogue in Berlin, one of the some 1,400 synagogues which were burned down on November 9, 1938.

Merkel’s message

In the statement shown by Telecinco, Merkel said that work needs to be done in order not to see events such as the Kristallnacht repeated. She was referring to the rising anti-Semitism and also appeared to refer to the resurgence of the far-right ideology, with new parties such as Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Yet in order to illustrate the movements Merkel was referring to, the report on Telecinco showed a Catalan pro-independence demonstration, a protest in Poland and an event of the national conservative Hungary ruling party (Fidesz).

Meanwhile a voice-over was saying that Merkel sent “a message against nationalisms in all formats.”

The Catalan audiovisual authority will discuss whether the report violated the audiovisual regulations, and if so, it will take the case to Spain’s National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), which has power to warn or sanction TV outlets if necessary.

Kristallnacht

The Kristallnacht, which took place on November 9, 1938 throughout Germany, was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi regime SA stormtroopers and civilians which included the destruction of hundreds of synagogues and Jewish businesses, the killing of some one hundred Jews and the arrest and deportation to concentration camps of some more 30,000 more.

It was the first major pogrom against the Jewish community, and it led to the Final Solution and the Holocaust.