Kristallnacht

When Adolf Hitler came to power in January of 1933, he quickly instituted policies that isolated German Jews, while subjecting them to ever-rising levels of persecution, including the dismissal of all Jews from German civil service posts. In May of that same year, books by Jewish and non-German authors were burned in a communal frenzy at Berlin’s Opera House, while two years later, a good number of Aryan-owned business announced they would no longer serve Jews.

Denied Citizenship

In September of 1935, the Nuremberg Laws proclaimed that only Aryans possessed full German citizenship, at the same time making it illegal for Aryans and Jews to marry or have extramarital sex. Despite the rising wave of antisemitism, violence remained minimal, until November 7th of 1938, when 17-year-old Herschel Grynszpan took action when the Nazis exiled his parents from Hanover Germany to Poland, shooting German diplomat Ernst Vom Rath in Paris.

An Antisemitic Frenzy of Hate

When Rath passed away from his wounds two days later, Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, used Rath’s assassination to rile the Nazi base into an antisemitic frenzy, resulting in Kristallnacht or the Night of Broken Glass. Beginning in the late night hours of November 9th and raging well into the next day, SS troops and common citizens alike vandalized or torched hundreds of synagogues throughout Germany, including thousands of Jewish homes, schools, businesses, hospitals and cemeteries, leading to the murders of nearly 100 innocent Jewish lives.

Many Sent to Concentration Camps

In the aftermath of the nationwide violence, the Nazis held the Jewish community responsible for all damages, assessing fines upwards of $400 million in 1938 currency, at the same time arresting more than 30,000 Jewish men, who were sent to concentration camps throughout Germany, specifically built to house Jews, homosexuals, political prisoners and others perceived as enemies of the Nazi state. The violence of Kristallnacht served notice to Jews throughout Germany and the rest of Europe, forcing many to flee their homelands for neutral or safe countries.

Foreshadowing the Final Solution

For many who failed to flee Germany, or landed in countries that fell to Nazi occupation during World War Two, Hitler’s Final Solution led to the murders of over six million Jews, making Kristallnacht, a prescient foreshadow of the horrors to come.