Gibbs 1

People running in Iear during the Kristallnacht.

http://bit.ly/sD3dxN
Andrew Gibbs
Mr. Neuburger
Eng. Comp. 101-137
15 November, 2011
Holocaust Paper
'Crystal Night
Can one picture their entire town in Iull on mass panic? Even better, try to picture
this happening in the darkest hours oI the night. The only thing that can be heard is shrill
screams and yells oI people randomly getting bludgeoned in the streets by groups oI men.
One turns to see shops that they go to every day, places Iamily
and Iriends own or work at, being looted and set ablaze. One
witnesses churches and centers where they go to worship a
higher deity being burnt to the ground. The only thing
going through their head is this can`t be happening. One can Ieel the Iear in the air as
they try to Iind a place to hide. Just as you get into motion a man grabs you and throws
you into a cart with other people. The individual then has to suIIer in this conIined space
Ior hours on hours as they haul them out to some desolate landscape somewhere between
two countries borders. That is where they drop them oII. One might say that this all
sounds pretty outlandish and over the top. Like nothing that has ever happened beIore.
Well Ior thousands oI Jew`s living in Germany and Austria this horrible nightmare oI a
thought was a reality on one dark night in nineteen thirty-eight.
Gibbs 2

Herschel in a French police car aIter assassination.

http://bit.ly/rUpDmV
Herschel Grynszpan grew up pretty normal. He and his Iamily were all Polish
Jews living in Hanover, Germany. His parents made a decent, honest living and they
didn`t really have a lot oI problems. When Herschel was Iourteen he studied Hebrew Ior
a year preparing to immigrate to the British mandate oI Palestine. When he applied,
however, he was told by the Palestine immigration oIIice that he was too young and
would have to wait a year. He then tried to Iind work as an apprentice plumber or
mechanic to help pass time Ior the year he had to wait. Sadly he could not Iind any work.
According to Auschwitz.dk, that is when Herschel 'turned his attentions toward France
and his Iather made arrangements Ior the boy to live with his uncle and aunt in Paris
while the rest oI the Iamily remained in Germany.(Herschel Grynszpan) He then
illegally moved to France and lived in a small Jewish community. Meanwhile in
Germany the authorities announced that all residence permits Ior Ioreigners were being
cancelled and would have to be renewed, though they
were not renewing any Jewish Ioreigner`s permits. Then
Poland said that it would not accept Polish Jews aIter the
end oI October. Nazi oIIicials were then ordered to arrest
and immediately deport all Polish Jews in Germany.
Herschel`s Iamily was then arrested, stripped oI their possessions and deported back to
Poland. An outraged Herschel then went out and got a gun. He headed to the German
Embassy in Paris, France. He claimed to be a German citizen and asked to see an
Embassy oIIicial. Ernst Vom Rath, the more junior oI the two Embassy oIIicials
Gibbs 3

Joseph Goebbels
http://to.pbs.org/um0s3N
available, said he would meet with him. When Herschel entered his oIIice he pulled out a
gun and shot Ernst in the chest multiple times. Grynszpan did not try to resist arrest and
cooperated with the authorities. An article on roizon.com states that right aIter the
assassination Herschel said, 'Being a Jew is not a crime. I am not a dog. I have a right to
live and the Jewish people have a right to exist on this earth. Wherever I have been I have
been chased like an animal.(The Fate oI a Forgotten Assassin) Hitler and his leading
oIIicers saw this as the perIect opportunity to lash out at the Jews. They used this
assassination as a way to justiIy their next attack on the Jewish people.
AIter the death oI Ernst Vom Rath in November oI 1938, Hitler had decided on his
next big pogrom against the Jews. According to United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum (USHMM), Hitler had one oI his oIIicials, Joseph
Goebbels, tell everyone at the celebration oI the one year
anniversary oI the Beer Hall Putsch that "the Fhrer has
decided. demonstrations should not be prepared or
organized by the Party, but insoIar as they erupt
spontaneously, they are not to be hampered."(Kristallnacht: A
Nationwide Pogrom, November 9-10, 1938) Later that night and early the next morning
groups oI Hitler youth and SA troopers took to the streets and destroyed Jewish homes,
shops, and synagogues all over the Reich. They wore civilian clothes to try and make it
look like it was an enraged reaction by the public. In the end the rioters set Iire to around
267 synagogues and destroyed a Iull 101 oI them throughout Germany, Austria, and the
Gibbs 4

Synagogue burnt and destroyed.

http://bit.ly/vIk3nD

Sudetenland. FireIighters oI the local areas were given orders to only prevent Iires Irom
spreading to nearby buildings. Most oI the synagogues burnt throughout the night. The
gangs oI Nazi`s and Nazi supporters smashed in the windows and looted at least 7,500
Jewish owned businesses. Jews were pulled out oI their homes into the streets and beaten.
They were then all loaded up into carts and taken to a wasted space oI land in between
Germany and Poland. There they set up some oI the Iirst concentration camps. By the end
oI the night 91 Jewish people were dead and around 26,000
were arrested and sent to concentration camps. For many
people the night will Iorever be remembered as Kristallnacht
or crystal night. This reIers to the way all the glass Irom the
Jewish shops In America it is most commonly known as the
night oI broken glass. It was the Iirst major, widespread
anti-semantic pogrom against Jews and the turning point in sad downIall oI the European
Jews.
The Kristallnacht is known mostly as one oI the key Iactors in the start oI the
Holocaust. It cemented an already pretty apparent Iear oI the Nazi`s in Jewish minds. For
a while aIter World War II there seemed to be a widespread distaste oI the Jewish people
all around Europe and the world. A lot oI people wanted to blame them Ior the war. It
seemed like Hitler`s hope Ior worldwide anti-Semitism was actually happening or going
to happen Ior a little while. Now a days Jews still have to live with multiple stereotypes
and jokes about them as a race or a religion. They have never really gotten any retribution
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Ior being persecuted or kept like animals in the camps Ior years. They probably never
will.
Writing this paper has been very eye opening. All the events beIore, during, and
aIter the Kristallnacht were very crazy. It`s hard to believe that all oI this actually
happened and it isn`t some screen play written by a college student that has too much
time on their hands. I will never Iorget the things that happened in Europe Irom 1937 to
1945. AlloI this inIormation should be more common knowledge than it is. Sadly most
people now have no idea about what went on during this time other than Hitler and Anne
Frank were alive. No one knows names like Herschel Grynszpan, Ernst Vom Rath, or
Joseph Goebbels. HopeIully the reader oI this paper has gained some knowledge about
events that happened in the Reich back during this time and will share the new
knowledge with people. Then this all could slowly start to become common knowledge.
That would be an amazing thing.





AIter math oI Kristallnacht.
http://bit.ly/smclx7
Gibbs 6

Works Cited
Bulow, Louis. "Herschel Grynszpan." The Holocaust, Crimes, Heroes and Villains. 2007.
Web. 22 Nov. 2011.
Roizen, Ron. "Herschel Grynszpan: The Fate oI a Forgotten Assassin." Welcome to
Roizen. Web. 22 Nov. 2011.
"Kristallnacht: A Nationwide Pogrom, November 9-10, 1938." United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 6 Jan. 2011. Web. 22
Nov. 2011.
'KRISTALLNACHT." Middle Tennessee State University. Web. 22 Nov. 2011.
"World War II in Europe Timeline: November 9/10 1938 - Kristallnacht, the Night oI
Broken Glass." The History Place. The History Place, 1997. Web. 22 Nov. 2011.