2013 Marks 75 years since Kristallnacht, Holocaust beginning

1938-2013: Marking 75 years since  Kristallnacht

November 9−10, 2013, marks the 75th Anniversary of Kristallnacht—the beginning of Hitler’s Final Solution. During this terrifying night Nazi Stormtroopers, police, and Hitler Youth raided and destroyed thousands of Jewish homes, shops, and synagogues. Ninety-one Jews were killed and 30,000 Jewish men were taken away. 

The world saw what happened and chose to remain silent.

It all started on November 9, 1938. Two days earlier Herschel Grynszpan, a 17-year-old Polish Jew, shot Ernst vom Rath, a German embassy official stationed in Paris. When he died, the leadership of the Nazi Party had the pretext they were waiting for. Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels announced, “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.”

Goebbel’s declaration lit the fuse and from late that evening through the next morning, “spontaneous” rioters attacked. Windows were shattered and flames from synagogues and other Jewish buildings licked the skies.

Throughout Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland, 267 synagogues were destroyed. Windows of approximately 7,500 Jewish-owned businesses were shattered and their wares were looted. At least 91 Jews were killed and there were many rapes. Up to 30,000 Jewish males were arrested, and most were transferred to Dachau, Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen and other concentration camps where they were detained.

It was Kristallnacht. The night of the broken glass. The Holocaust had begun.

Information about the history of Kristallnacht came from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum,  100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW, Washington, DC http://www.ushmm.org/