Kristallnacht
Also known as Crystal Night, Reichskristallnacht, Pogromnacht, Novemberpogrome, Night of Broken Glass
' ( ) or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s)' (, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from the Hitler Youth and German civilians throughout Nazi Germany on 9–10 November 1938. The German authorities looked on without intervening. The euphemistic name comes from the shards of broken glass that littered the streets after the windows of Jewish-owned stores, buildings, and synagogues were smashed. The pretext for the attacks was the assassination, on 9 November 1938, of the German dipl
AI overview
Kristallnacht (the "Night of Broken Glass") was a violent pogrom carried out by Nazi paramilitary forces, Hitler Youth, and civilians against Jews throughout Nazi Germany on November 9-10, 1938, in which Jewish-owned stores, buildings, and synagogues were destroyed while German authorities did not intervene. It represents a major escalation of Nazi persecution of Jews and is historically significant as a turning point toward more systematic violence during the Holocaust.
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Key facts
- Civilian attack.image
- Interior view of the destroyed Fasanenstrasse Synagogue, Berlin.jpg
- Civilian attack.image_upright
- 1.5
- Civilian attack.alt
- Partially destroyed building
- Civilian attack.caption
- Partially destroyed Fasanenstrasse Synagogue in Berlin
- Civilian attack.location
- Nazi Germany(then including Austria and the Sudetenland)
- Civilian attack.target
- Jews
- Civilian attack.type
- Pogrom, purge, looting, arson, mass arrests, homicide, kidnapping
- Civilian attack.fatalities
- 91+
- Civilian attack.perpetrators
- Adolf Hitler, (SA) stormtroopers, (SS), Hitler Youth, German civilians
- Civilian attack.motive
- Revenge for Ernst vom Rath's assassination, antisemitism
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
Article
22 sectionsContents
- Background
- Early Nazi persecutions
- Expulsion of Polish Jews in Germany
- Shooting of vom Rath
- Pogrom
- Death of Ernst vom Rath
- Riots and Kristallnacht
- Aftermath
- Responses to ''Kristallnacht''
- In Germany
- Internationally
- Post-war trials
- ''Kristallnacht'' as a turning point
- Modern references
- Names for ''Kristallnacht''
- See also
- References
- Sources
- Further reading
- Primary sources
- In German
- External links
' ( ) or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s)' (, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from the Hitler Youth and German civilians throughout Nazi Germany on 9–10 November 1938. The German authorities looked on without intervening. The euphemistic name comes from the shards of broken glass that littered the streets after the windows of Jewish-owned stores, buildings, and synagogues were smashed. The pretext for the attacks was the assassination, on 9 November 1938, of the German diplomat Ernst vom Rath by Herschel Grynszpan, a 17-year-old German-born Polish Jew living in Paris.
Jewish homes, hospitals and schools were ransacked as attackers demolished buildings with sledgehammers. Rioters destroyed over 1,400 synagogues and prayer rooms throughout Germany, Austria, and the Sudetenland. Over 7,000 Jewish businesses were damaged or destroyed, and 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and incarcerated in concentration camps. British historian Martin Gilbert wrote that no event in the history of German Jews between 1933 and 1945 was so widely reported as it was happening, and the accounts from foreign journalists working in Germany drew worldwide attention. The Times of London observed on 11 November 1938: "No foreign propagandist bent upon blackening Germany before the world could outdo the tale of burnings and beatings, of blackguardly assaults on defenceless and innocent people, which disgraced that country yesterday."