KRISTALLNACHT

1
KRISTALLNACHT

• The Night of Broken Glass

2
Kristallnacht

• A massive, coordinated attack on Jews and Jewish
  shops on November 9, 1938
• It became known as Kristallnacht, which means
  night of broken glass

A synagogue burns in Ober Ramstadt during
Kristallnacht
3
Segregation

• Signs such as Jews not welcome were posted in
  many stores and places around German cities.
• Jews were treated like outcasts and trash during
  this era.
  

Jews are not welcome here
4
How it began

• It began after Herschel Grynszpan, a 17 year old
  Jew living in Paris, shot and killed a member of
  the German Embassy staff because of the poor
  treatment his father and his family suffered
  through in the hands of the Nazi party
• Because of this, the Grynszpan family and over
  15,000 other Jews were transported by train and
  dumped at the Polish border

5
How it began (cont.)

• The shooting in Paris gave Hitler and the
  propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, a good
  reason to begin the extermination of the Jews or
  in Hitlers words, rise in bloody vengeance
  against the Jews.
• Joseph Goebbels inspired the Hitler Youth and
  other Germans to burn down and break windows in
  Jewish shops, and synagogues in order to make
  everyone believe that the Jews truly deserved to
  be punished

6
The Infamous Night

• On November 9, mob violence broke out as the
  German police stood by and crowds of spectators
  watched. Nazi storm troopers, members of the SS,
  and Hitler Youth beat and murdered Jews, broke
  into and wrecked Jewish homes and synagogues, and
  brutalized Jewish women and children.

7
Synagogues

• Some of the main targets for the mobs were
  synagogues.
• The angry mobs were trying to
• Destroy the insides of the synagogues
• Burn down the synagogues
• Vandalize the walls
• Burn the torah scrolls

Hechingen Synagogue in Germany after
Kristallnacht
8
After Kristallnacht

• It was later decided to transfer all Jewish
  property to the Aryans
• All the burned down synagogues were turned into
  parking lots
• About 25,000 Jews were rounded up and sent to
  concentration camps

9
Aftermath

• After Kristallnacht, Reinhard Heydrich reported
  the death toll and results from Kristallnacht
• He reported
• 7500 businesses destroyed
• 267 synagogues burned (with 177 totally
  destroyed)
• 91 Jews killed

10
Bibliography

• http//xroads.virginia.edu/1930s2/Time/1938/krist
  allnacht.jpg
• http//www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/images
  /Holocaust/cyclist.jpg
• http//www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/kna
  cht.htm
• http//www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holoca
  ust/synhechingen.html
• http//bokertov.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/k
  ristallnacht_burn_syanagogue_badenbaden.jpg