KRISTALLNACHT: THE NOVEMBER 1938 POGROMS
Residents in Graz, Austria, watch as the Jewish cemetery’s ceremonial hall burns. —US Holocaust Memorial
Museum, courtesy of Dokumentationsarchiv des Oesterreichischen Widerstandes
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
On November 9, 1938, the Nazis unleashed a wave of violent riots against Jews in Germany, Austria, and the
Sudetenland. In the space of a few hours, thousands of synagogues, Jewish businesses, and homes were
damaged or destroyed. This event came to be called Kristallnacht (commonly translated as “Night of Broken
Glass”) for the shattered store windowpanes that carpeted the streets in its aftermath.
The pretext for this violence was the November 7 assassination of a German diplomat in Paris, Ernst vom Rath,
by Herschel Grynszpan, a Jewish teenager whose parents, along with 17,000 other Polish Jews, had been
recently expelled from Germany. Though portrayed as spontaneous outbursts of popular outrage, these riots
were calculated acts carried out by the SA, SS, and local Nazi party organizations.
Stormtroopers killed at least 91 Jews and injured many others. For the first time, Jews were arrested on a
massive scale and transported to concentration camps. About 30,000 Jewish men were sent to
theBuchenwald, Dachau, and Sachsenhausencamps, where hundreds died as a result of brutal treatment.
Release came only after some prisoners agreed to emigrate and to transfer their property to “Aryans.”
Kristallnacht marked an escalation of violence against Jews that began during the incorporation of Austria into
the German Reich in March 1938. It also signaled the transfer of responsibility for “solving the Jewish
Question” to the SS, a critical juncture in the path to genocide
The town of Zeven, Germany, had 2,500 inhabitants in 1938, 28 of them Jews. On November 10, 1938,
under Gestapo orders, the synagogue in Zeven was forcibly emptied and the furnishings publicly
burned at the town's main square. A photographer captured this event. –Bildarchiv Preussischer
Kulturbesitz
DO YOU RECOGNIZE ANY OF THE OBJECTS SHOWN HEAPED IN THIS PHOTOGRAPH?
WHAT DOES THE SIGN SUGGEST WAS THE MOTIVATION FOR KRISTALLNACHT?
Translation: "Revenge for the murder of vom Rath!"
The school director was ordered to bring the students of Zeven to observe the bonfire, but was
himself absent as were most of the adult inhabitants of Zeven. Adult male Jewish residents of Zeven
were arrested and deported to the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen. –Leo Baeck Institute
WHAT APPEARS TO BE HAPPENING, AND WHO ARE THE PEOPLE IN THE PHOTOGRAPH?
WHY DO YOU THINK THE NAZIS DECIDED TO BURN SYNAGOGUE FURNISHINGS IN THE TOWN SQUARE INSTEAD
OF SIMPLY DESTROYING THEM WITH THE SYNAGOGUE?
WHAT ROLES DO TEACHERS AND PARENTS TRADITIONALLY FILL FOR CHILDREN? HOW WAS THAT ROLE
CHANGED IN ZEVEN DURING KRISTALLNACHT? WHO SEEMS TO BE FILLING THIS ROLE?
Zeven was one small town among thousands of towns and cities in Germany where Jewish-owned
property was destroyed and Jewish people were attacked and humiliated during Kristallnacht. One
of the larger cities where the Kristallnacht riots took place was Baden-Baden. –US Holocaust Memorial
Museum
Dots represent cities where synagogues were destroyed. Because of map scale, not all cities affected by
Kristallnacht can be shown or labeled.
As you can see from this map, Kristallnacht devastated Jewish communities throughout the German
Reich. Even Jewish communities in the recently annexed regions of Austria and the Sudetenland and
the free city of Danzig were attacked. Zeven is located in the northern part of Germany, near the city
of Bremen. Baden-Baden is in the South, not far from Stuttgart.
WHAT DOES THIS WIDE SCOPE OF DESTRUCTION SUGGEST ABOUT HOW KRISTALLNACHT WAS
ACCOMPLISHED?
WHAT EFFECT WOULD THE MASS DESTRUCTION OF SYNAGOGUES, STORES, AND BUSINESSES HAVE ON THE
JEWS OF GERMANY?
THE VIOLENCE OF KRISTALLNACHT WAS NATIONWIDE. WHAT DID THIS MEAN FOR JEWS IN GERMANY?
As was the case in Zeven, the events of Kristallnacht in Baden-Baden were captured on film. The
synagogue and its furnishings were destroyed, and Jewish men in the city were arrested with many
sent to concentration camps. The arrested men were paraded through the streets of Baden-Baden and
forced to recite passages from Hitler's Mein Kampf, Der Stuermer, and other antisemitic writings at the
pulpit of the synagogue before it was destroyed. US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Lydia
Chagoll
Male Jews are arrested during Kristallnacht. The next day, they are forced to march through the town
streets under SS guard to watch the desecration of a synagogue. Later they are deported to
Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
In this photograph, look for:
 A young boy.
 People by the side of the road.
 People in the park.
 Nazi SS men.
Don't forget to look for details. Can you tell which organization owns the car? How?
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT PEOPLE DOING?
WHY WOULD THE NAZIS MARCH JEWISH MEN THROUGH THE CITY STREETS BEFORE ARRESTING THEM?