Night Of Broken Glass: The Destruction Of Nazi Culture

Second of all, in the Nazi culture, they achieve their goals by violence and force. The aftereffect of these actions comes with the destruction, hence, the Nazi culture taints the setting and the landscape with violence and death. Their negative acts and influence provoke pain through the Jewish community as they experience loss. For example, on November 9th, 1938, Nazi leaders conducted a progrom in spite of the Jews, “In two days […] over 7,000 businesses were trashed and looted, dozens of Jewish people were killed, and Jewish cemeteries, hospitals, schools and homes were looted while police and fire brigades stood by” (“The ‘Night of Broken Glass’”). Additionally, gallows and executions were held at concentration camps, the ghettos and even in public streets. That being said, the anti-Semitism caused
by this culture truly oppresses Jewish land and property, as they and their estate are unable to escape violence, especially death. Many of the Nazi soldiers’ actions, especially public hangings, are specifically done in order to insult and ruin their landscape, seeing as their burials are meant to be done as quickly as possible. Thus, the Nazi culture destroys their landscape with violence against the Jews and their premises. To say the least, Minka has the same experience when it comes to the destruction of her home. As Minka and her best friend, Darija, went to walk back to their homes, a crowd of people was beginning to form and the sound of crying echoes through the streets. When Minka finds herself at the edge of the gallows, “the soldiers didn’t pay attention to [her]; they were too busy dragging away the family of the deceased” (Picoult 219). It was only after two days did they cut down the men who had been hanged, however “during that forty-eight-hour stretch, [Minka passed the gallows six times. (…) After the first two times, [she] stops noticing. It was as if death [became] part of the landscape” (Picoult 222). Since the Nazi culture truly believes their right to their living space, violence is a common occurrence to Minka’s community.
They frequently cause mass destructions to their country and land, to the point that it begins to bleed into their landscape and their ordinary lives. Through such a short time period, she becomes victim to brutality of her race and her residence that she no longer flinches at the sight of death; violence remains in her mind as a norm. Both physically and mentally, Minka suffers from a great amount of anguish, as death and violence implants itself in her mind. Her suffering can be felt through the thousands of homes destroyed by the Nazi soldiers. In the end, she is incapable of finding peace as her people “were a beaten, gray stream of workers who did not want to remember [their] past and did not think [they] had a future”. The influence of the Nazi culture left their beautiful homes in ruins as “there was no laughter, no hopscotch remaining. No hair ribbons or giggles. No color or beauty left behind” (Picoult 264). Within such a short time span, Minka and her family experiences more horrors than anyone could possibly imagine in a
lifetime. The anti-Semitic culture continues to traumatize all victims from their violence, establishing agony and sorrow around their surroundings.