Kristallnacht – The Night of Broken Glass

Kristallnacht — the Night of Broken Glass

On November 9, 1938, the Nazis unleashed a series of riots against the Jews in Germany and Austria. In the space of a few hours, thousands of synagogues and Jewish businesses and homes were damaged or destroyed. For the first time, tens of thousands of Jews were sent to concentration camps simply because they were Jewish.  This event came to be called Kristallnacht (“Night of the Broken Glass”) for the shattered store windowpanes that carpeted German streets.

“Those that do not learn history are forced to repeat it.” Never forget.

http://www1.yadvashem.org/exhibitions/kristallnacht/homepage.html

OVERVIEW OF KRISTALLNACHT

A massive, coordinated attack on Jews throughout the German Reich on the night of November 10, 1938, has come to be known as Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass. The mob violence broke out as the regular German police stood by and crowds of spectators watched. Nazi storm troopers along with members of the SS and the Hitler Youth beat and murdered Jews, broke into and wrecked Jewish homes, and brutalized Jewish women and children. All over Germany, Austria, and other Nazi-controlled areas, Jewish shops and department stores had their windows smashed and contents destroyed. Synagogues were also especially targeted for vandalism, including the desecration of sacred Torah scrolls.

SS leader Reinhard Heydrich reported on the 12th that 7,500 businesses had been destroyed, 267 synagogues burned and 91 Jews killed. About 25,000 Jewish men were rounded up and later sent to concentration camps where they were often brutalized by SS guards and in some cases randomly chosen to be beaten to death. The Night of Broken Glass starkly signaled a movement towards the Final Solution, a systematic program of genocide designed to annihilate every Jew in Europe. By John Stendahl, Senior Pastor, Lutheran Church of the Newtons, Newton Center, Massachusetts

Question

I need some information on Kristalnacht, but I have barely found any. Do you know where I can find information on Kristalnacht?

Harry W. Mazal OBE answers:

I am one of the persons at the Holocaust History Project who responds to questions asked by students Take a look at the following web-pages. There is an enormous amount of information on Kristalnacht on the Internet:

• http://www.pugzine.com/history2.html
• http://www.wiesenthal.com/mot/moths.htm#kristalnacht
• http://www.pitt.edu/~ondemand/kristal.html
• http://www.outreachjudaism.org/kristal.html
• http://www.tau.ac.il:81/Anti-Semitism/incidents/i97008.html

Finally, please see the material available at the excellent Mining Co. site:

• http://holocaust.miningco.com/

I hope that this information is what you are seeking.

Harry W. Mazal OBE

Question:

Did Kristallnacht happen in the Ghetto or did it happen in a town? (in Schindler’s List, it appears to happen in the Ghetto)

Yale F. Edeiken answers:

Hello. I am one of the people who answers questions for the Holocaust History Project.

Kristallnacht, which occurred on the night of November 10, 1938, took place throughout Germany.

It was a general riot planned and executed by the Nazi government and was an attack on Jews and Jewish businesses wherever they were found.

Yale F. Edeiken
The Holocaust History Project

Another Question

Hello, I have an essay to do on the significance of kristellnacht in regards to the holocaust. I was wondering if you have any thoughts on this or could recommend any site that covered this topic. thankyou for your time.

Yale F. Edeiken answers:

Kristallnacht was one of the most significant events leading to the Holocaust. Prior to Kristallnacht the persecution of the Jews was mostly in the form of legal and social restrictions not very different from the laws persecuting Blacks in the American South. Kristallnacht was the beginning of the open use of violence by the state to persecute Jews. As such it was one of the crucial events leading up to the genocide of the Holocaust.

There are several good books, which you can find in our Bibiliography in the “short essays” section of our website. There are good accounts in every general history of the Holocaust as well. I would suggest reading the comprehensive coverage in Martin Gilbert’s “The Holocaust” as a good introduction to Kristallnacht. It contains not only the historical reality of Kristallnacht but extensive accounts from witnesses and victims.

–Yale F. Edeiken
The Holocaust History Project