| Kristallnacht all began because a Jewish family, the
Grynszpan family, was forced to leave Germany. They sent a letter to
their seventeen-year old son, Herschel Grynszpan, telling him this. He
was so mad that he went out, got himself a gun, and went to Paris. There
he shot Ernst vom Rath, a German diplomat, five times. This happened on
November 7th, 1938. He died two days later, November 9th
(Kristallnacht). On the morning of November 9th strange people asked party officials what they were going to do about the Jews. They (the party officials) did not respond. The same morning two men dressed as SS men demanded that an SA colonel burn a nearby synagogue. He said no to this. This didn't worry the men. Instead they got people off the street to storm the synagogue. |
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Kristallnacht translates to " The Night of Broken Glass". It was the response of the Nazi government to the death of Ernst vom Rath. Kristallnacht was the boycott of Jewish stores and homes that lasted only one day (but the memory might never leave). The shooting of Ernst vom Rath was called "a conspiracy of the whole Jewish community". The main targets were synagogues and Jewish shops. |
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The timing of Kristallnacht was perfect. Most of the party leaders were
at a commemoration at Alte Rathus in Munich. When they got back the next
morning they demanded to know what had happened. Kristallnacht has been
called many things. One of those things is " the worst pre-war pogrom
ever heard of ".
People say that the Jews were not strong enough or ready enough to fight back. Well according to some past files that's not true. They have records that say Jews and their German neighbors fought back together. They pushed SS men down stairs, beat SS men, and chased SS men away. Links
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Map of the cities where synagogues were burned
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