What is Kristallnacht?

Kristallnacht, or "Night of Broken Glass", was a staged Nazi pogrom. They destroyed unthinkable numbers of synagogues, Jewish-owned stores and homes, community centers, cemeteries, hospitals, and schools as police stood by and watched. It was a turning point in history that happened on November 9-10, 1938, that would turn into the Holocaust.

How it all started...

Herschel Grynszpan

On November 7, 1938, a seventeen year old Polish Jew, Herschel Grynszpan, walked into the German embassy in Paris and assassinated Ernst vom Rath, a German diplomat, for the expulsion of his parents and 17,000 other Jews from the Reich. The Nazis used his death as an excuse to launch a pogrom against the Jews of Germany.

During...

Firefighters kept the fire from spreading to non-Jewish houses, but made no attempt to stop the Jewish buildings from burning.

The Nazis aimed most of their violence at Jewish synagogues.

Fires lit up the night sky as countless numbers of Jewish synagogues, homes, and businesses burned to the ground.

The nationwide pogrom lasted for a total of 48 hours.

Even schools weren't spared by the devastation of Kristallnacht.

Aftermath...

When the violence finally ended on the night of November 10, the Nazis had burned or destroyed 267 synagogues, vandalized or looted about 7,500 Jewish businesses, killed or injured more than 91 Jewish people. The Nazis forced the Jewish community to pay the cost of all the repairs at their own expense plus an "atonement" fee.

Aachen, Germany

For the first time, Jews were arrested on a massive scale and transported to Nazi concentration camps. About 30,000 Jews were sent to Buchenwald, Dachau, and Sachsenhausen, where hundreds died within weeks of arrival. Release came only after the prisoners arranged to emigrate and agreed to transfer their property to "Aryans."

Jews awaiting deportation to Dachau

Berlin, Germany

Berlin, Germany

New York Times, November 11, 1938

Survivors Remember Kristallnacht: Susan (Strauss) Taube & Rabbi Gerd Jacob (Zwienicki) Wiener