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The November Pogrom 1938 ("Night of Broken Glass")
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Who was unjustly blamed for the riots during the November Pogrom, and ordered to clean up the streets afterwards?
In Germany, unemployment has fallen since Hitler and his Nazi party have begun to build up Germany's armed forces and war industry. Big new roads are being built, buildings, and industries. Many Germans, who have had it hard for a long time, see Hitler as a great leader who is about to make Germany powerful again. But not all Germans are happy. German Jews are subjected daily to threats, harassment, and violence, sometimes deadly.
The situation for the Jews just gets worse every day that passes with Hitler in power. On October 28, 1938, the Nazis expel 17 000 Polish-born Jews from Germany to Poland. At first, Poland refuses to accept them, and they have to live in harsh conditions in a refugee camp in the border town of Zbaszyn. November the 7th, 1938. A 17-year-old Polish Jew - Herschel Grynszpan walks in to the German Embassy in Paris and shoots the diplomat Ernst vom Rath.
Grynszpan's parents and sister are in the refugee camp in Zbaszyn, and Grynszpan is in despair about how they are being treated by the Nazis. This is his revenge! Grynzspan is immediately arrested by the French police. The diplomat vom Rath is seriously injured and taken to hospital. The day after, the morning papers in Germany say that “Jews are murderers”.
People are quick to take revenge. A Jewish religious building - a synagogue - is burnt down, and in cities all over Germany, angry crowds throw stones through the windows of Jewish stores. Hate slogans are painted on Jewish shops and homes! In many cities, anti-Jewish riots break out! November the 9th.
The diplomat who was shot, vom Rath, dies from his wounds. Hitler and the top Nazi leaders are in Munich to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Nazi coup attempt: the failed ‘Beer Hall Putsch’ in November 1923. When Goebbels tells Hitler that vom Rath is dead, and that there are demonstrations against Jews throughout the country, Hitler says: “Let the demonstrations continue. Withdraw the police. For once the Jews should feel the rage of the people.” Goebbels instructs all Nazi leaders at the meeting to arrange demonstrations against Jews throughout Germany, telling them to attack Jews, synagogues, Jewish shops, and Jewish homes.
Gestapo chief Reinhard Heydrich sends telegrams to all police stations in Germany, which say that there will soon be riots, and that the police should not stop them. The police are also ordered to arrest 20 000 to 30 000 Jews. Soon, Jewish shops and homes are burning throughout Germany. More than 1 400 synagogues in Munich, Berlin, Frankfurt, and many other German cities are vandalized and set on fire. Shocked Jews are robbed, beaten, raped, and many hundreds are murdered.
More than 25 000 Jews are arrested and taken to special detention camps - concentration camps. November the 10th. The organized attack on the Jews - the pogrom - has been happening for 24 hours. Now Goebbels decides that it shall stop. Germany's streets are filled with broken furniture, and there are glass splinters and shards everywhere.
All this broken glass leads to the night of these events being called "die Kristallnacht" - Night of Broken Glass. The Jews in Germany have just suffered brutal violence, and had their homes, shops, and synagogues destroyed. And now, the Nazis force them to clean up the streets. The Nazis blame the riots entirely on the Jews, and decide that they will pay a billion Reichmarks in fines for all the destruction. Previously, it has been difficult to live as a Jew in Germany.
Now it is impossible!