On the night of November 9-10, 1938, the streets of Germany and Austria were littered with shattered glass from the windows of Jewish homes, shops, and synagogues. This infamous night, known as Kristallnacht or the Night of Broken Glass, marked a crucial turning point in the Nazi persecution of Jews and foreshadowed the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust to come. But what led to this explosion of violence and destruction? Let‘s explore the historical context and immediate triggers that culminated in Kristallnacht.
The Rise of the Nazi Party and Anti-Semitism in Germany
To understand the events of Kristallnacht, it‘s essential to examine the rise of the Nazi Party and the spread of anti-Semitism in Germany during the 1920s and 1930s. The Nazis, led by Adolf Hitler, exploited the economic and political instability of the Weimar Republic to gain popular support and eventually seize power in 1933.
Central to Nazi ideology was the belief in the racial superiority of the Aryan "master race" and the perceived threat posed by Jews and other "inferior" peoples. As historian Saul Friedländer explains, "The basic tenet of Nazi anti-Semitism was that the Jews were not a religious group but a specific race, which therefore had to be eliminated from the body politic."[^1]
Once in power, the Nazis began implementing a series of discriminatory laws and policies aimed at isolating, disenfranchising, and ultimately removing Jews from German society. These measures included:
- The boycott of Jewish businesses on April 1, 1933
- The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service (April 7, 1933), which excluded Jews and political opponents from government jobs
- The Nuremberg Laws of 1935, which stripped Jews of their German citizenship and prohibited marriages and sexual relations between Jews and non-Jews
By 1938, the situation for Jews in Germany had become increasingly dire. They faced daily discrimination, harassment, and violence with little legal protection. Jewish businesses were "Aryanized" (transferred to non-Jewish ownership), and many Jews were forced out of their professions. An estimated 150,000 Jews managed to flee Germany between 1933 and 1938, but most found few countries willing to accept them due to strict immigration quotas and widespread anti-Semitism.[^2]
The Assassination of Ernst vom Rath and Nazi Incitement
The immediate trigger for Kristallnacht was the assassination of German diplomat Ernst vom Rath in Paris on November 7, 1938. The shooter was 17-year-old Herschel Grynszpan, a Polish Jew who had been living in France. Grynszpan‘s family, along with thousands of other Polish Jews, had recently been expelled from Germany and left stranded at the Polish border in dire conditions.
Upon learning of vom Rath‘s death on November 9, Nazi leaders saw an opportunity to unleash a wave of anti-Jewish violence and destruction under the guise of "spontaneous" public outrage. That evening, Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels delivered a inflammatory speech at a meeting of Nazi Party officials in Munich:
"The Führer has decided that… demonstrations should not be prepared or organized by the Party, but insofar as they erupt spontaneously, they are not to be hampered."[^3]
With this veiled command, regional party chiefs and local SA (Sturmabteilung, the Nazi paramilitary organization) commanders sprang into action, mobilizing their forces to attack Jewish communities throughout Germany and Austria.
The Night of Broken Glass: November 9-10, 1938
Over the course of just 48 hours, rampaging mobs of SA stormtroopers, Hitler Youth, and some civilians unleashed a wave of destruction and violence against Jews and their property. The scale and scope of the attacks were staggering:
- At least 267 synagogues were destroyed or damaged, many burned to the ground as firefighters stood by under orders to only prevent the flames from spreading to non-Jewish property.[^4]
- Approximately 7,500 Jewish-owned shops, businesses, and homes had their windows smashed and contents looted or demolished.[^5]
- Jewish cemeteries, hospitals, and schools were vandalized and desecrated.
- At least 91 Jews were killed during the riots, and hundreds more committed suicide or died from mistreatment in the aftermath.[^6]
One of the most chilling aspects of Kristallnacht was the organized mass arrest of Jewish men. Around 30,000 Jews were apprehended and deported to the concentration camps at Dachau, Buchenwald, and Sachsenhausen.[^7] Many were released only if they agreed to leave Germany and transfer their property to "Aryans."
The human suffering and material losses inflicted during Kristallnacht were immense. The cost of the broken windows alone was estimated at 5 million Reichsmarks (equivalent to roughly $400 million today).[^8] But the true price was the shattered lives and livelihoods of Germany‘s Jewish population.
The Aftermath and Significance of Kristallnacht
In the days following the Night of Broken Glass, the Nazi regime unashamedly blamed the Jews for the destruction and imposed a collective fine of one billion Reichsmarks on the Jewish community.[^9] Insurance payments to Jewish property owners were confiscated, and Jews were banned from most remaining areas of public life and economic activity.
The brutality and lawlessness of Kristallnacht, carried out so openly and without legal consequences for the perpetrators, shocked the international community and laid bare the true nature of Hitler‘s regime. Newspapers around the world condemned the pogrom, and some countries, such as the United States, recalled their ambassadors from Germany in protest.[^10]
However, the global response to the plight of German Jews remained woefully inadequate. The Evian Conference, convened in France in July 1938 to address the refugee crisis, failed to produce any significant change in immigration policies.[^11] Most countries, including the United States, Canada, and Great Britain, maintained strict quotas and barriers to Jewish immigration even as the threat to their lives became increasingly apparent.
For many historians, Kristallnacht represents a crucial turning point on the path to the Holocaust. As historian Rita Thalmann asserts, "Kristallnacht marked the transition from discrimination to elimination, that is to say, the beginning of the Final Solution."[^12] After November 1938, the Nazis intensified their efforts to force Jews out of Germany through a combination of terror, expropriation, and deportation. When mass emigration proved insufficient, they turned to ghettoization, mass shootings, and ultimately, the construction of extermination camps to systematically murder European Jewry.
Today, Kristallnacht serves as a somber reminder of the dangers of unchecked hatred, prejudice, and complicity. It demonstrates how quickly a society can descend into unthinkable violence when toxic ideologies are allowed to flourish, and individuals and institutions fail to speak out and take action to protect the vulnerable.
As we commemorate the anniversary of Kristallnacht each year, we honor the memory of the victims and renew our commitment to fighting anti-Semitism, racism, and bigotry in all its forms. By learning from this dark chapter in history, we can work towards building a world where the promise of "Never Again" becomes a reality.
[^2]: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, "German Jewish Refugees, 1933-1939," accessed April 15, 2023, https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/german-jewish-refugees-1933-1939.
[^3]: Richard J. Evans, The Third Reich in Power (New York: Penguin Press, 2005), 580.
[^4]: Alan E. Steinweis, Kristallnacht 1938 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009), 1.
[^5]: Martin Gilbert, Kristallnacht: Prelude to Destruction (New York: HarperCollins, 2006), 13.
[^6]: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, "Kristallnacht," accessed April 15, 2023, https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/kristallnacht.
[^7]: Richard J. Evans, The Third Reich in Power (New York: Penguin Press, 2005), 591.
[^8]: Alan E. Steinweis, Kristallnacht 1938 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009), 2.
[^9]: Martin Gilbert, Kristallnacht: Prelude to Destruction (New York: HarperCollins, 2006), 47.
[^10]: Deborah Dwork and Robert Jan van Pelt, Holocaust: A History (New York: W.W. Norton, 2002), 94-95.
[^11]: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, "Évian Conference," accessed April 15, 2023, https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/evian-conference.
[^12]: Rita Thalmann, "Crystal Night, 9-10 November 1938," in The Holocaust and History: The Known, the Unknown, the Disputed, and the Reexamined, ed. Michael Berenbaum and Abraham J. Peck (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998), 42.
