A former editorial cartoonist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Sunday released a powerful illustration comparing the mass shooting at the Tree of Life Congregation a day earlier to the infamous “Kristallnacht” in Nazi Germany.
Rob Rogers, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, called his cartoon “Day of Broken Glass,” an apparent reference to “Kristallnacht,” which translates to “Night of Broken Glass.”
On “Kristallnacht,” which took place Nov. 9-10, 1938, Germans burned down synagogues, vandalized Jewish homes and killed roughly 100 Jews. The deadly night was named after the shards of broken glass littering the streets from the smashed windows of Jewish businesses.
At least 11 people were killed and several others injured when a gunman opened fire at the Tree of Life Congregation in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. Robert Bowers, the accused gunman, is an avowed anti-Semite who police say shouted “All Jews must die!” when he burst into the synagogue.
“It was an incredibly sad day in Pittsburgh,” Rogers wrote in his tweet sharing the cartoon. “We are still in shock. My heart goes out to all the families directly affected by this senseless tragedy.”
After working for the Post-Gazette for 25 years, Rogers was fired in June after he and the newspaper’s management clashed over his cartoons critical of President Donald Trump. Since March, the Post-Gazette had axed 19 of his cartoon drafts and proposals without explanation, he said.
His cartoons now run in an alt-monthly called the Pittsburgh Current and in syndication.