Conttributed/Worldhistory.org

On Nov. 9, 1938, Nazi Germany began a wave of organized violence against Jewish communities in Germany and Austria, marking a significant turning point in the persecution that would culminate in the Holocaust.

By 1938, Nazi persecution of Jews had escalated rapidly, moving from systematic discrimination and exclusion toward widespread violence.

On Nov. 7, 1938, Herschel Grynszpan, a 17-year-old Polish Jew, shot German diplomat Ernst vom Rath in Paris. Vom Rath died two days later. Grynszpan reportedly carried out the shooting in response to the Nazi persecution and deportation of Polish Jews, including his family.

Grynszpan was arrested and later transferred to German custody. His ultimate fate remains unknown.

Following vom Rath’s death, Nazi leaders used the assassination as a pretext to unleash coordinated attacks against Jewish communities.

Members of the Sturmabteilung (SA), Schutzstaffel (SS), Hitler Youth and other Nazi organizations participated in the violence. Some German and Austrian civilians also took part.

Nazi officials directed that Jewish-owned businesses, homes and religious institutions be targeted while non-Jewish and foreign-owned properties were to be spared.

Synagogues were burned, Jewish-owned businesses were vandalized and looted, and homes, schools and other Jewish institutions were attacked.

Approximately 7,500 Jewish-owned businesses were damaged or destroyed, and about 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps.

Early reports documented at least 91 Jewish deaths during the attacks, although the total death toll, including deaths resulting from subsequent imprisonment and persecution, was significantly higher.

The violence became known as Kristallnacht, or the “Night of Broken Glass,” a reference to the shattered windows of Jewish-owned businesses, homes and synagogues that littered the streets.

The attacks marked a major escalation in Nazi Germany’s persecution of Jewish people, demonstrating a shift from institutionalized discrimination toward openly organized violence, imprisonment and murder.

Although antisemitic persecution had been underway since Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in 1933, Kristallnacht is widely recognized as a critical turning point in the events leading to the Holocaust.

The coordinated attacks demonstrated the Nazi regime’s willingness to use widespread violence against Jewish communities while facing limited resistance.

Reflecting on the events in 1988, historian Max Rein wrote, “Kristallnacht came … and everything was changed.”

Today, Kristallnacht remains a reminder of the devastating consequences of antisemitism, discrimination and unchecked hatred.

 

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