Kristallnacht and the Assassination of Vom Rath

On November 7th, 1938, Ernst Eduard vom Rath was assassinated while working in the German embassy in Paris. Germany used this incident to villainize the Jews, saying the Jews had "fired the first shot" against Germany.

Ernst vom Rath, a German diplomat

Vom Rath was assassinated by Herschel Grynszpan, a 17-year old Polish-German Jew. Grynszpan went to the German embassy in Paris and requested to speak with an embassy official. Upon entry, he shot vom Rath five times, resulting in vom Rath's death.
Grynszpan was distraught by the news that his family was being deported from Germany back to Poland. When he was arrested, he insisted that he wanted to avenge the Jewish people. There is no clear indication that Grynszpan intended specifically to kill vom Rath, though the Germans spread propaganda that Grynszpan was aiming to kill the ambassador, Count Johannes von Welczeck.

Herschel Grynszpan shortly after his arrest

As a result of this assassination, an incident known as "Kristallnacht" occurred. From November 9th to 10th, 1938, Nazis in Germany went on a rampage, burning and vandalizing Jewish establishments and killing German Jews.
German Jews, prior to 1938, had been subject to repressive policies since Adolf Hitler became the chancellor of Germany in 1933. However, Kristallnacht marked the dramatic shift to violent Nazi policies. After Kristallnacht, the conditions for German Jews got progressively worse. Soon after, at the start of World War II, the number of people in concentration camps swelled to 21000 and increased to 715000 by the end of World War II.

The inside of a synagogue vandalized during Kristallnacht