The Night of Broken Glass

The Night of Broken Glass: Kristallnacht World War II was a major turning point in the history of the world. The devastating war was automatically triggered when the dictator of Germany, Adolf Hitler, invaded Poland in September, 1939 causing Great Britain and France to declare war on his country. Hitler was against Jewish people and anyone else who was not considered Aryan, a person with pure race. Since many people harmed the Jews, other countries did not want them on their territory because of the consequences they could possibly suffer like destruction of property and bringing hatred to the area. In early November, 1938, the Night of Broken Glass, also known as Kristallnacht, was a tragic event that put the Jewish people through misery and scarred them with harsh memories that will forever be with them. Kristallnacht was triggered when a 17 year old Jew from Germany, then living in Paris, Herschel Grynszpan, received a postcard informing him that his father has been deported to Poland after living in Germany for 27 years. This news did not satisfy Grynszpan. On November 7th, wishing to avenge his father’s deportation, Grynszpan shot an employee of the German Embassy in Paris.( Beck, Black, Krieger, Naylor, Shabaka, RB, LB, LK, PN, DS. (1999). World History Patterns of Interaction. Boston: McDougal, Littell.) As soon as the news permeated the cities, the German government whipped up public anti-Semitism which brought hostility to Jews on an economic, political, social, and religious level. Joseph Goebbels organized a widespread pogrom against Jews. During the first wave of pogroms hundreds of Jewish people lost their lives, and many more had their property destroyed. The Night of Broken Glass was a sudden and widespread assault on Jews prior to World War II. About 60 million people killed and 6 million murdered in concentration camps. The attack legitimized violence against Jewish people by the German state and foreshadowed Adolf Hitler’s later attempts to exterminate European Jews through his plan, “Final Solution.” ("Kristallnacht." World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2013. Web. 5 Mar. 2013.) Since Jews were targeted, they suffered many consequences. Over 7,500 Jewish businesses were damaged because all their property was destroyed. People also disrespected their religious beliefs by burning down over 177 synagogues. A young child, M.I Libau was 14 years old and said “everything my parents had worked for for 18 years was destroyed in less than 10 minutes.” (Beck, Black, Krieger, Naylor, Shabaka, RB, LB, LK, PN, DS. (1999). World History Patterns of Interaction. Boston: McDougal, Littell.) If people weren’t destroying Jewish property they would make sure they suffered by threatening them to be taken to a concentration camp to be punished, shot, left to starve, and catch diseases. As for women, they were put into more misery by being raped by German men. Jewish people had no privileges. They were not allowed to own stores, work as independent skilled workers, attend concerts, movies, or any public entertainment, and even prohibited from driving cars. As a further insult, the Jewish community was ordered to be fined $400 million for the attack.("Kristallnacht." World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2013. Web. 5 Mar. 2013.) Fed up with all of it, 150,000 Jews left the country in the wake of The Night of Broken Glass which received its name from all the broken glass left behind from the destruction of Jewish property. Kristallnacht was a devastating event where many lives were lost. This event immediately caught my interest because I have never heard anything about The Night of Broken Glass so that made me eager to go into depth on the topic. I already knew about the Jews being mistreated while Hitler was in power but never knew of any specific events that caused the hatred towards the race. I wanted to come upon specific actions that the Germans took on the Jews and their properties like break windows, set fire to synagogues, and damage homes. I really enjoyed going into depth on this event and learning everything I learned.