Broken shop windows after the
Night of Broken Glass |
Kristallnacht, also known as Reichskristallnacht, Pogromnacht and in English as "The Night of Broken Glass",
was a massive nationwide pogrom in Germany and Austria on the night of 9. November 1938 (including early hours
of the following day). It was directed at Jewish citizens throughout the country, and was for many observers
the first hint that what is now called the Holocaust (of which it was an early event) might be unique in scale
in the history of Central and Western Europe.
Prelude
In the 1930s, many Jews of Polish origin lived in Germany. On Friday, 28. October 1938, 17,000 of them had been
gathered without warning in the middle of the night and deported from Germany to Poland. (Many of them had been
in Germany for most of their lives - some were decorated German veterans of the
First World War.)
The Polish government refused to admit them, resulting in their trudging between the German and Polish border posts
in the cold day and night, until German authorities finally persuaded the Polish government to grant entry.
Herschel Grynszpan, a Jewish German who had fled to France, had received a letter from his family describing the
horrible conditions they experienced in this deportation. Seeking to alleviate their situation, he appealed repeatedly
over the next few days to Ernst vom Rath, secretary of the German Embassy in Paris, who apparently had no intention
of being helpful. On Monday, November 7, Grynszpan shot and killed vom Rath.
Kristallnacht
Vom Rath's assassination served as an excuse for launching a rampage against Jewish inhabitants throughout the country.
The attack was intended to look like a spontaneous act, but it was in fact orchestrated by the
German Nazi government. This
meant it was pursuant to the leadership of the Nazi Party, and as it often did, the government drew on the party's
organization in addition to formal government lines of authority.
This pogrom damaged, and in many cases destroyed, about 1574 synagogues (constituting nearly all Germany had), many
Jewish cemeteries, more than 7,000 Jewish shops, and 29 department stores. More than 20,000 Jews were arrested and
taken to concentration camps. A few were even beaten to death with others forced to watch. The number of Jewish
Germans killed is uncertain, with estimates ranging from 36 to about 200 over two days of rioting. The number killed
is most often cited as 91. The indiscriminate nature of the violence suggests some non-Jewish Germans were killed
simply because someone thought they "looked Jewish".
The events in Austria were no less horrendous, and most of Vienna's 94 synagogues and prayer-houses were partially
or totally damaged. People were subjected to all manner of humiliations, including being forced to scrub the pavements
while being tormented by their fellow Austrians, some of whom had been their friends and neighbours.
Contemporary foreign response
The Kristallnacht pogrom sparked outrage all over the world. It discredited pro-Nazi movements in Europe and North
America, leading to their eventual decline. Many newspapers condemned the Kristallnacht, with some comparing it
to the murderous pogroms incited by Imperial Russia in the 1880's. The U.S. recalled its ambassador (but did not
sever diplomatic relations) while other governments severed diplomatic relations with Germany in protest.
Follow-through
The persecution and economic damage done to German Jews did not stop with the pogrom, even as their places of
businesses were ransacked. They were also forced to pay a collective fine of 1 billion marks to the Nazi government.
This was a bit of irony - as even the New York Times had photographic proof at around the same time that the Nazis
were at least partially responsible, although now we know that it was approved by
Adolf Hitler, and that Hitler was involved in the planning of it. This
was arguably a form of collective punishment, later denounced in the Geneva Conventions.
The night ushered in a new phase in the anti-Semitic activities of the Nazi party and state apparatuses, leading
to the deportation and, finally, the extermination of most of the Jewish people living in Germany. Although few
people knew it at the time, the Kristallnacht pogrom was a first step in the systematic persecution and mass murder
of Jews throughout Europe in what came to be known as the Holocaust.
Terminology
Names for this event are the subject of some controversy. It was called Kristallnacht (German for "crystal night")
by the common people evoking the many shop windows, mostly owned by Jewish shopkeepers, that were broken during
the night.
The English term "The Night of Broken Glass" is often explained as avoiding the ironic intent of the word "Kristallnacht",
as used by the German Nazi propaganda.
Many people saw that the November progroms were not an outbreak of "spontaneous
wrath of the German people" as the Nazi propaganda tried to portray it, but a state-organized and executed act of
terror. This explains the prefix Reichs- (imperial), that people used also in other contexts to ridicule and
criticize aspects of the Nazi dictatorship. The meaning of (Reichs-)Kristallnacht as a term critizing and accusing
the Nazi-dictatorship for what took place has largely been forgotten.
Today in Germany it is mostly called Pogromnacht ("pogrom night"), reflecting a consensus that "Kristallnacht" was
too euphemistic given the fact that the original dimension of the term has been lost.
Please have a look at some banknotes from the World War II.
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