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The Blue Card organization based in New York City held a conference Nov. 9 at the New York Times Center to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht entitled, "Remembrance and Awareness; The Unkept Promise of Never Again."

According to the Blue Card organization, "The mission of The Blue Card is to provide direct financial assistance, with a minimum of obstacles, in a caring and dignified manner to needy Jewish survivors of Nazi persecution and their children in the United States. The organization is dedicated to addressing needs of survivors unmet by other agencies, public and private."

The organization began in 1934 in Germany to help Jews financially that were leaving Germany because of persecution. Then in 1939, it was re-established in the United States to continue aiding victims of the Nazis terror financially.

The conference was dedicated to the remembrance of Krisrallnacht, but also genocide throughout the world as well. Many dignitaries from Cambodia, Guatemala, Rwanda, professors from universities, and religious leaders were in attendance as well.

Eric Mayer, a survivor of Kristallnacht, said 70 years ago he was in jail.

"I was in jail because I was a Jew, with my mother, my brother, my sister," Mayer said.

Mayer said his father came from a German family that traced his roots backed to 1667, in a small town named Worms.

"He was proud of being a Jew," Mayer said. "He was the highest decorated German soldier in the field in the battles of WWI, having every single decoration that the Kaiser of the Reich could bestow on one of its citizen soldiers."

His father would leave every morning at 4:30 for the winery that he owned and travel 20 miles to get there, he said.

"That morning he came back to the house, we all were wondering why and he said the synagogue is aflame," Mayer said.

The synagogue was 904 years old, and it was the oldest shul in Europe, in a town that was called the Jerusalem of the Rhine along the Rhine

River.

Mayer said brown trucks came down the streets loaded with Nazis and they went from house to house destroying everything in sight.

Mayer lived in a multi-family house when the Nazis came.

"The three families were Christians, they took very little note of these Christian families who had been living with us for a long time and insulted them for living with us. They proceeded to come into our apartment and destroy everything in sight, from linens, to plants, to goldfish."

The police came and tried to protect his father because he was a well-known citizen, but their efforts were to no avail as the Nazis took away his father and grandfather, he said.

"We didn't know what was going to happen," Mayer said.

At 10 a.m. the police chief came and took Mayer, his sister, brother, and his mother to jail, he said. Many other Jews were already there.

"We remained in jail for the entire day," he said. "It is said the chief of police, having some decency, really took us to jail for the entire day to protect us from the Nazis."

That night Mayer and his family found out that his father and grandfather were loaded onto a truck that was set for a concentration camp. However, his grandfather was able to escape from the truck and his father because of his status as a decorated German war veteran was let go after six weeks in a concentration camp.

"That was Kristallnacht, we had no food, nothing to cook in, all our preserves were gone," Mayer said.

Mayer said at the age of 9 he was cooking for his family.

"I could not be here telling you my story if not for an English lady who brought us food," he said. "I couldn't be here if not for 800 villagers in a small village in France who protected us and including the priest who became my friend."

Rabbi Dr. Bernhard Rosenberg of Congregation Beth-El in Edison said a Holocaust or genocide doesn't only affect the immediate victims, but their children and grand children as well.

"I never saw my grandparents, my aunts, my uncles, most of my cousins were killed," Rosenberg said.

Rosenberg said when he was 6 or 7 years old he used to get schlepped around by his parents who not only barely spoke English, but didn't drive a car. His family used to sit together on Saturdays after Shabbat and his parents and the other adults used to speak in Yiddish and play cards. However, as children of Holocaust survivors he and his siblings did not want to ask what they were talking about.

"I got a phone call one day from my daughter who went on a tour to Poland," he said. "At 4 a.m. she calls me and says 'Good morning daddy, I'm in Auschwitz.' My father has the number from Auschwitz; my mother has the number from Skazyskokarmiene Werk C, a horrible work camp. She made ammunition and in fact she looked 60 at the age of 30."

Rosenberg realized that if his daughter can call him at 5 in the morning from Auschwitz, then he can go to Auschwitz, he said.

"And I went there," Rosenberg said. "I took whatever information I had and I found my father's birth certificate and I found the land that we owned in Poland, and you know where it was? The parking lot of the mayor's house. The mayor was not interested with meeting with me."

Rosenberg said he became a rabbi for one simple but very important reason: Never again.

"We need to be educated, you young people are the future," he said. "It will be up to you to teach that if you save one soul, you have saved an entire world and yes, six million is a huge number to understand, but one is not. If you can only save one person, do a good deed for one individual, you have done God's work."

Horst Freitag, the Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany, said that Kristallnacht reminds us of the importance of power and the danger of words.

"The only crime was that they were Jews," Freitag said. "It was a crucial turning point in Nazi policy regarding the Jews."

Freitag said the Holocaust didn't start with the gas chambers or the camps, but rather hatred for people.

"Let us fight words of hatred, with the commitment to the importance of tolerance, of human rights, justice, brotherhood, and freedom of religion," he said.

Montclair resident Corey Klein said he found it very moving to hear people from all different faiths and background talk about Kristallnacht.

"I'm glad that the event turned out as it did," Izabella Safiyeva, a spokeswoman for Blue Card, said. "I was happy to hear the international community, in importance and raising awareness of genocide past and present."

Mayer said he was here to tell his story and because he has a debt to pay society.

"All the people you heard about saved my life, and if they hadn't I wouldn't have children, and they wouldn't have children," Mayer said. The other part why I'm here is to work with people who feel likewise and happen to be a lot younger. It takes determination and commitment, and one has to do away with narrow mindedness."