The Holocaust: The Night Of Broken Glass

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During WWII, Germany’s notorious dictator, Adolf Hitler, executed an infamous event that eventually led up to the Holocaust. On November 9, 1938, a devastating event known as Kristallnacht or “The Night of Broken Glass” took place in Germany (Kristallnacht). Jewish stores, schools, homes, and synagogues were looted and burned. Jewish bystanders have also perished during this event. From the heart of Nazi Germany throughout its controlled land, Kristallnacht seemed to have took a massive toll on the Jews, with Gestapo and perpetrators leading coordinated attacks to vandalize the Jewish population, stripping them of their statuses as citizens of the German Reich (Kristallnacht: November 9–10, 1938.). The causes of the Night of Broken Glass…show more content…
During this time, the Jews were used as scapegoats for all of Germany’s troubles. With many people accepting his belief, Hitler’s followers united and passed the Nuremberg Laws (Kristallnacht). These laws limited the rights of the Jews which ultimately led to their deportation. Meanwhile, a Jewish teenager living in Paris, Herschel Grynszpan, soon discovered that his parents living in areas near Germany were among the deported (The Holocaust Chronicle 122,123). To avenge his parents deportation, Grynszpan decided to assassinate a German embassy official, Ernst vom Rath. With the news of the assassination, the Germans’ hatred of the Jews grew as Hitler quickly promoted Rath before his death to make it seem like the goal of the assassination was to target a high-ranking German official (Kristallnacht: November 9–10, 1938.). On November 9, 1938, Hitler and his officials decided to use violence to avenge Rath’s murder, which caused…show more content…
Goebbels stated that “… demonstrations should not be prepared or organized by the Party, but insofar as they erupt spontaneously, they are not to be hampered," (Kristallnacht: The November 1938 Pogroms). With many supporters in favor of this “demonstration”; Perpetrators, Gestapo (Secret state police), and rioting crowds mobilized on the streets of Jewish communities following with a trail of destruction. There were repeated acts of coordinated attacks on Jewish stores, homes, schools, and synagogues as well as innocent Jewish bystanders. Stores were broken into, looted, and littered with glass; hence the name “Night of Broken Glass,” (Kristallnacht). Synagogues, schools, and homes were robbed and vandalized, leaving many Jews jobless and homeless. Kristallnacht marked the turning point from the aversion to Jews to acts of terror and

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