Kristallnacht

During Kristallnacht (Crystal Night) over 7,500 Jewish shops were destroyed and 400 synagogues were burnt down. Ninety-one Jews were killed and an estimated 20,000 were sent to concentration camps.

This was a programme designed to encourage Jews to emigrate, on the 9th – 10th November, 1938. It was organized by Joseph Goebbels and Reinhard Heydrich of the Nazi party, but they presented it to the media as a ‘spontaneous reaction of indignation’ of the German people against the Jews. The only people who were punished for the crimes committed on Crystal Night were members of the Sturm Abteilung (SA) who had raped Jewish women (they had broken the Nuremberg Laws on sexual intercourse between Aryans and Jews).

After Crystal Night the numbers of Jews wishing to leave Germany increased dramatically. It has been calculated that between 1933 and 1939, approximately half the Jewish population of Germany (250,000) left the country. This included several Jewish scientists who were to play an important role in the fight against fascism during the war. A higher number of Jews would have left but anti-Semitism was not restricted to Germany and many countries were reluctant to take them.

Related pages: History Mrs March Year Ten Year Eleven

Category: History

Author: Mrs March