Kristallnacht Burns: Pogrom Marks Holocaust's Violent Start
SA paramilitaries, Hitler Youth, and ordinary civilians attacked Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues across Germany and Austria on the night of November 9-10, 1938. Over 1,400 synagogues were damaged or destroyed. Roughly 7,500 Jewish-owned businesses were smashed. Thirty thousand Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps at Dachau, Buchenwald, and Sachsenhausen. At least 91 Jews were murdered. The pogrom was presented as a spontaneous reaction to the assassination of a German diplomat in Paris by a young Jewish man. In reality, Joseph Goebbels orchestrated the violence with Hitler's approval. The name 'Kristallnacht,' Night of Broken Glass, comes from the shattered windows that littered the streets. It marked the transition from legal discrimination to organized physical violence, a clear step toward the Holocaust.
November 9, 1938
88 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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