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Kristallnacht survivor George Shafi poses in front of the Neue Synagoge in Berlin on November 5, 2026, ahead of commemorations of the November 1938 Pogroms. (John MACDOUGALL/AFP)

JTA — One of the last surviving Jewish witnesses of Kristallnacht told German police leaders they have an “enormous responsibility” to learn the lessons of the past.

George Shefi, 94, this week returned to the city of his birth to share his story with senior law enforcement representatives from Germany, the United States and other European countries at the city’s New Synagogue, a target of the Nazi-spurred mobs on Kristallnacht. The event held Thursday, titled “Not on Our Watch: Operationalizing Never Again,” marked the 88th anniversary of the pogrom.

“I have come here at this time to say that Germany’s responsibility to preserve the memory of the Holocaust is eternal,” Shefi told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in an interview before the event.…