A major tactic of Joseph Goebbels was to remind Germans of their previous struggles against foreign enemies and their supposed issues arising from Jewish subversion. Goebbels claimed that the "Jewish penetration of the professions" (law, medicine, property, theatre, etc.) and a foreign Jewish boycott of Germany necessitated the Nazis’ "counter-measures." Through these ideas and the measures which he took to present them, Goebbels was able to pave the way for the creation of an environment that was accepting of hostility toward Jews, even before any actual legislation or executive measures had been taken. This was evident through the Jewish pogroms of Kristallnacht. Kristallnacht translates as “night of crystal” in English and is typically referred to as the “Night of Broken Glass.” On the night of November 9-10, a number of supposedly spontaneous protesters took to the streets of Germany, annexed Austria, and in areas of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia recently occupied by German troops, breaking into synagogues and Jewish-owned shops through the windows and arresting as many Jews as they could. …show more content…
At the time of Kristallnacht, no anti-Semitic legislation had been implemented by the Nazis, and while most of those engaged in the violence were either Nazi Party officials, members of the Sturmabteilungen Assault Detachments, or participants in the Hitler Youth programs, the overall passivity of the German people in regard to the violence exhibited against Jews on that night indicated to the Nazi government that they could move forward with more radical measures. Subsequent legislation banned Jews from practicing most professions in the public and private sectors, and made further strides in removing Jews from public
So at this point in time Jews were very restricted. One Jewish teenager, Herschel Grinszpan, was living in Paris. His father was relocated by the Nazis to Poland. He decided that he was going to assassinate the German ambassador. He went to the embassy, but he was not able to locate his target. So he tried to assassinate Third Secretary Ernst vom Rath instead. Ironically, Rath was an anti-Nazi. Even though Rath was only a minor official, Hitler used propaganda to convince people that the act was an international conspiracy by Jews everywhere. Hitler made it seem as though Jews were attacking Germany itself. This is what led to Kristallnacht. The act of one Jew gave Hitler exactly the excuse he needed to hurt the Jews en masse and in public. It gave him the excuse for the government to condone mass destruction of Jewish property and businesses.
[IMAGE] A Jewish man clearing broken glass after Reichkristallnacht Whilst this physical brutality is certainly horrific, it is on a much smaller scale than other terror regimes of the era, such as Stalin’s Russia, where hundreds of thousands of innocent soviet citizens were sent to work camps and worked to death. Due to this, it could be argued that Nazi policy towards Jews was not remarkably brutal however the brutality of Nazi Germany also took on a much more extreme psychological dimension against Jewish citizens. These incidents of ‘legal anti-Semitism’ were common in Nazi Germany, an example of which being the 1933 book burning, where, in a state organised affair thousands of Jewish-authored books were burned in public.
30000 Jews were sent to concentration camps during Kristallnacht. The Nazi's came to power in 1932 as they were elected 608 seats in the German parliament. After this event, the Nazi's used fear and propaganda to slowly hypnotize and imbed their beliefs into the minds of every German citizen. However in November of 1938, the Nazi's showed everyone what they really believed in. during "the night of broken glass" or Kristallnacht. The Nazi's ransacked and destroyed many Jewish businesses while they also killed and captured many Jewish citizens . The purpose of Kristallnacht was to strike fear into Jewish communities, which in turn also sparked the beginning of the Nazi war machine that would sweep through Europe over the course of the upcoming years. To assess the significance of Kristallnacht I will look at the consequences, what caused it to happen.
On November 9, 1938, Jewish houses, businesses, and Synagogues in Germany and German-annexed countries were demolished during a violent anti-Jewish pogrom organized by Nazi officials, known as Kristallnacht, or Night of Broken Glass. ("Kristallnacht," 2016). The Kindertransport, "a series of rescue efforts which brought thousands of refugee children to Great Britain from Nazi Germany," began as a result of Kristallnacht, which left many Jewish children in German-annexed countries in danger ("Kindertransport, 1938–1940," 2016).
Before they were sending the Jews to concentration camps they were not letting anybody buy things made by Jews. They would paint big Jewish symbols on Jewish shops and Gestapo soldiers would guard the shop and make sure no one shopped there. They also would beat the Jews if they tried to speak up and tell people that this isn’t right. If you lived at this point in time in Germany it would be a dark and unhappy time. An example of when a Jew was beaten because he
On November 9, 1933, Joseph Goebbels made a speech that initiated a crowd of violent Nazi activists who would burn down over 1,000 synagogues, and destroy over 7,000 businesses, thus creating Kristallnacht, ‘the night of the broken glass’. Following this act, was the beginning of the Holocaust. 6 months later, on May 10, 1933, members of the Nazi German Student Association, as well as other university students, burned close to 25,00 volumes of “un-German” books to promote their nationwide campaign: “Actions against the un-German spirit”.
In the essay “A 1938 Pogrom Against…” the American Holocaust Museum (AHM) says, “the two laws provided the foundation by which hundreds of thousands of Jewish people living in Germany had their rights steadily and systematically taken away” (46). In this quote the AHM is referring to the Nuremburg Laws, which removed the citizenship from Jews living in Germany, the laws also prohibited the intermarrying of Jews to non-Jews (46). Later, Jews were forced to identify themselves and were banned from using public facilities such as hospitals (46). The most impressive aspect of these laws is that there was no opposition from the German people when these laws were put into place, instead the German public were prepared for more radical measures (47). In the essay excerpt “An Overview of the Holocaust” college professor Christian Gerlach describes the first act of violence against Jews was Kristallnacht, in which more than 1,000 synagogues were destroyed, Jewish shops were robbed and looted and 91 Jews were killed (30). In the essay passage “An American Jewish Woman…” journalist Adam Biga explains that during the events of persecution the main perpetrators were the authorities, however, civilians also took part in similar attacks across Europe (159). During this time the authorities enacted laws into motion to antagonize the Jewish community so that the Jews would be hated by the people of Europe. The act of going after a specific racial group qualifies as a crime against humanity and an act of
Kristallnacht, or the "Night of Broken Glass", is one of the most crucial events in German, Jewish, and World History. Before, the Jews were simply assaulted and verbally abused. However, on the night of November 9, 1938, an unplanned and extremely violent action against the Jews occurred. In two days, over 250 synagogues were burnt down while the fire department did nothing to stop it, over 7,000 Jewish businesses were trashed and looted, Jews were murdered, Jewish cemeteries, schools, hospitals, and homes were looted by SS while the police attempted to preserve them but failed. Before Kristallnacht, Jews ' lives were not threatened. Historically Jews were not welcome by many countries which
November 9 to 10 in 1938, is known as “Night of Broken Glass” or Kristallnacht. Nazi’s soldiers attacked Jewish homes, synagogues, and businesses in Germany and Austria. Around 100 of Jews were killed, and hundreds of them got injured. 30,000 Jews were arrested and hundreds of their synagogues were destroyed. Afterward, the Nazis said the destruction is because of
At 1:20 a.m. All over Germany, Austria and other Nazi controlled areas, Jewish shops and department stores had their windows smashed and contents destroyed. Synagogues were especially targeted for vandalism, including desecration of sacred Torah scrolls. Hundreds of synagogues were systematically burned while local fire departments stood by or simply prevented the fire from spreading to surrounding buildings. Regarding the economic impact of the damage from Kristallnacht and the resulting massive insurance claims, Hermann Göring stated the Jews themselves would be paying for the damage that happened during Kristallnacht. Goebbels told the nazis to stop attacking at 5:00 the 10th of November. The rioters burnt over 1,000 Synogogues, 30,000 Jewish men were arrested to work in concentration camps, 91 people were killed not counting the suicides, and the stores that weren't destroyed, were boycotted over 100,000 stores. Hitler still thought he wasn't successful enough with the Jewish Problem, therefor there was a second solution. The second solution succeeded more in the Jewish problem since the effects of Kristallnacht lead to a large amount of emigration of Jews from Germany. (Kristallnacht- the Night of Broken
The Holocaust was a very depressing time. There were millions of Jews killed during this time. Germans were led by Adolf Hitler. There were many concentration camps around the German “empire” area. These concentration camps were used to get rid of the people that Hitler wasn’t very fond of. Some of the Jews in the camps were lucky enough to survive, however some were not so lucky. Alfred Munzer was one of the people who were lucky enough to survive.
2). Even though this was not a violent treatment of the Jews, it was an attempt to bankrupt and dehumanize them of everything they had worked for their whole lives (Jews in Nazi Germany pg. 2). As a result, Jews became a segregated people. They had to ride on buses and trains only in the seat that were clearly marked for them (Jews in Nazi Germany pg. 2). Jewish children were allowed to be bullied at school in an attempt to keep them from coming to school. Hitler used this to brand the Jews as a lazy people (Jews in Nazi Germany pg. 2). The Nuremberg Laws passed in 1935 gave even more power to the Nazis and took away more dignity of the Jews. The Jews were stripped of their German citizenship and marriages between Jews and non-Jews were not allowed (Jews in Nazi Germany pg. 2). At this point, the Jews who could afford to pay a fine to leave the country were allowed to do so, but the ones who could not afford it had to stay behind and were not allowed to get food or medicine (Jews in Nazi Germany pg. 2). Hitler’s campaign against the Jews escalated in 1938 with “Krystalnacht” – The Night of the Broken Glass (Jews in Nazi Germany pg. 2). After a Nazi diplomat was found shot to death, Hitler began a seven day war of terror against the Jews (Jews in Nazi Germany pg. 2). Shops that were owned by Jews were destroyed and robbed, homes and synagogues burned
Anti-semitism in Germany led by Adolf Hitler would back up a plan called the final solution, to exterminate all of the Jews in Europe. Out of the 100 million Jews aimed for extermination, 6 million of them were killed. On his path to German greatness, Jews became victim to inconceivable actions. First the Nuremberg Laws were passed which stripped Jews of their german citizenship, eliminating their opportunity to flee to other countries. After Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, Hitler forcefully deported Jewish people into fenced confinements called ghettos. More Jews died here than in any extermination camp due to the harsh conditions and labor. Most people living in ghettos had no access to running water or a sewage system and overcrowding
The second law established who would be granted full political and civic rights and those who would now be deprived of them. Citizenship rights were to be granted to those who were citizens of the Reich, which were only individuals classified as being of "German or related blood", therefore Jews were excluded from any and all citizenship rights becoming state subjects, essentially making them foreigners in their own country. Kristallnacht refers to Jewish pogroms that took place in 1938. These attacks took place against synagogues, Jewish owned businesses, other Jewish establishments, and Jewish citizens in general. This was also the start to organized Nazi attacks, and the mass incarceration of the Jews. There was no clear Instructions on how to execute the violence, so it caused the destroying of Jewish property and inhumane treatment of Jewish people. Kristallnacht essentially became the turning point in the Nazis persecution of the Jewish people. It expanded the efforts to removed Jews from German economics and social life. Kristallnacht and the events that followed essentially showed the Nazi regime that they can count on the nationwide support of anti-Semitism from the general public. This showed the Nazis that they can easily move forward with their plans without a lot of opposition
One of the most well known attacks on the Jews was known as Night of Broken Glass. On the November 9, 1938, violence against Jews broke out across Germany. The Germanys tried to make it appeared like the violence was an unplanned attack, set off by the assassination of a German official in Paris at the hands of a Jewish teenager. In two days, over 1,000 synagogues were burned, 7,000 Jewish 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. http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/kristall.htm