Kristallnacht payton nowak

In France, November 7, 1938, Polish Jew, Herschel Grynszpan was arrested for shooting a German diplomat named Ernst von Rath.

Grynszpan had shot von Rath in an act of protest against 12,000 persecuted Jews. Von Rath died two days later.

Once Hitler was informed of the shooting, violence against Jews had already broken out. However, Nazi minister, Joseph Goebbels, had encourage Hitler to allow further punishment for the Jews.

Joseph Goebbels had then ordered groups of Nazis to carry out the event of Kristallnacht.

Along with Goebbels, the head of the Gestapo (secret Nazi police), Heinrich Muller, had ordered the police to not interfere with the riots and to arrest as many able bodied Jewish men as possible.

Jewish women were instead sent to jail.

On the night of November 9-10th, 1938, Kristallnacht took place throughout Germany and Austria.

The word "Kristallnacht", when translated, means "Crystal Night", but is also known as "Night of Broken Glass" or "The November Pogroms", referring to the shards of glass that had littered the streets.

During Kristallnacht, non-Jewish citizens, destroyed, looted, and burned Jewish businesses, hospitals, schools, homes, and cemeteries.

Although Kristallnacht is known for destroying Jewish businesses, the main targets were actually the synagogues.

Kristallnacht in most places had lasted around 48 hours, but there were some places where Kristallnacht lasted even longer.

Firemen had actually been called in during Kristallnacht. However, they had been ordered to only stop fires from spreading to non-Jewish buildings while the Jewish buildings would continue to burn.

Most of the rioters had been the neighbors of the Jews, and the Jews were being attacked by people the knew.

Members of the SS and Hitler Youth also had helped on beating and/or killing Jews.

After all the violence and chaos, almost every synagogue in Germany was destroyed.

There had been reported that over 1,000 synagogues were destroyed, close to 100 Jews killed, and over 7,500 Jewish businesses had been ransacked and/or destroyed.

Along with the thousands of Jewish businesses and homes, thousands of Jewish men were stripped of their property and placed in concentration camps, while the females were placed in jail.

Also some of the men sent to the camps were randomly chosen to by killed by the SS guards.

There had been so many Jews sent to the camps that the camps that held them had to be expanded. The main camps that held the Jews were at Dachau, Buchenwald, and Sachsenhausen.

All this lead up to Kristallnacht to be known as the first major imprisonment of Jews to concentration camps.

Along with the imprisonment of German Jews, Grynszpan's family and other Polish Jews were expelled from Germany with out warning.

The Polish Jews were finding it extremely hard to find refuge somewhere, for other countries were closing their borders to stop an overflow of jewish immigrants.

As for the clean up, the Jews were made responsible for all of it.

Jewish businesses were also not allowed to be reopened, unless it was managed by a non-Jew.

The Nazis had also fined the Jewish community $400,000,000. Also German Jews weren't allowed to collect insurance.

You would expect that things wouldn't be able to get worse, but they did.

The aftermath of Kristallnacht led to more restrictions and segregation for the Jews, making life far worse for them.

Jewish children and teenagers were kicked out of schools. Jews started being placed in ghettos, and were forced to wear the star of David.

Many Jews tried to escape the country, but failed. As a result many Jews committed suicide afterwards.

Even though the rest of the world new of Kristallnacht, they all stood by in silence.

However, this did end many pro-Nazi forces in other countries.

Kristallnacht had been the start of Hitler's Final Solution.

It had also left everyone aware of what Hitler's plans were, and how he would do it.

Photo from Kristallnacht memorial

Today, every year, the Holocaust Center holds a program in remembrance of Kristallnacht.

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