World War II veteran Allan Ostar will speak at the Center for Holocaust, Human Rights & Genocide Education’s (Chhange) 80th Commemoration of the November 1938 Pogrom (Kristallnacht) and Veterans Day on November 8 from 7 to 9 p.m. in Navesink I conference room in the Student Life Center at Brookdale Community College. The November 9-10, 1938 pogrom against the Jewish people in Germany and Austria led to more than 90 deaths and deportations of 30,000 to concentration campus. The violence also resulted in the burning of more than 1,000 synagogues and 7,500 homes and businesses in Germany and Austria.

Ostar, an East Orange, NJ native, served in Army’s 42nd Rainbow Division after enlisting as a 20-year-college student. He served in France and Germany. He was among the first troops to arrive at the Dachau Concentration Camp in southern Germany on April 29, 1945. He will share his eyewitness testimony, followed by a documentary produced by Chhange, I Was There.  The documentary contains interviews with veterans who were eyewitnesses to the horrors of the concentration campus. The French government inducted Ostar in the French Legion of Honour. He received the Combat Infantryman Badge and two Bronze Star Medals for his service in the US Army.

The event is free and open to the public. Guests are asked to register for the event at www.chhange.org or by calling 732-224-1889 or visit chhange.org. Parking Lot #7 is closest to the event location.