KristallnachtThe Night of Broken Glass

THESIS

Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass, was a violent attacks on Jews and their property which signaled to the world Adolf Hitler’s intentions.

Homeless

In 1938 12,000 Polish Jews living in Germany were ordered to leave.

Dropped at the Polish border, Poland refused to accept them.

Without adequate food or shelter, they waited.

One family wrote their son, desperate for help.

Herschel Grynszpan

17 and broke, he had no way to help.

He bought a gun and went to the German Embassy.

He shot and killed a member of the German Embassy staff.

His Protest to the World

With God's help.My dear parents, I could not do otherwise, may God forgive me, the heart bleeds when I hear of your tragedy and that of the 12,000 Jews. I must protest so that the whole world hears my protest, and that I will do. Forgive me.

Kristallnacht

The Night of Broken Glass

1,000 German Synagogues were burned or looted

German Firefighters kept fires from spreading to non-Jewish property

Revenge against all Jews in Germany and Austria

7,000 business looted or vandalized

Jewish children banned from public schools

German Jews fined to pay for the clean up

Jewish leaders were major targets of arrest and humiliation

Kristallnacht was the first open violence against German Jews

25,000 men were arrested

They were the first to enter concentration camps