Herschel Grynszpan, a seventeen year old Jewish refugee, had heard of the deportation of his family from Hanover, Germany. At the time, Herschel was living with his uncle in Paris. To this day, historians are still uncertain what exactly motivated Grynszpan to take the following action. Herschel bought a revolver and headed to the German embassy, where he shot Ernst Vom Rath, an embassy official. Upon hearing of the death of Vom Rath, Joseph Goebbels delivered a speech in the place of Hitler, ordering riots to not be prohibited, even if they were targeted against certain ethnic individuals.
Until this point, persecution and harassment of Jewish citizens of Germany had not involved much violence. Kristallnacht was essentially a turning point and pivotal event in transitioning between discrimination against the Jews to violence and concentration camps. Hitler wielded this event in order to build more tension and momentum against Jewish residents of Germany, until he finally reached the point of massacre.
5 comments:
It is tragic to see the progression of a bloody and oppressive rule by the Nazi Party. Very similar to WWI, the tensions between oppressor and oppressed erupted in an assassination. A little less than the year after this tragedy, World War II began, marked by even more violence against the Jews - which originated with Kristallnacht.
These events, however tragic, were often overshadowed by the imminent danger that Hitler and the Nazi regime posed on the rest of the world. This detailed account of the terror that happened time and time again to the European Jews highlights the fascism and anti-Semitism that nearly destroyed a population and pushed them farther and farther away from attaining equality.
Good insight that foreshadows the intentions of Hitler and how much worse things were to come after the start of WW II.
After the Kristallnacht, the roads in the Jewish community were filled with broken glasses from the riot which gave rise to the name Night of Broken Glass. The government allowed people and the police to terrorize the Jews. Even after the night, the government blamed the Jewish community for the damage and imposed a fine of $400 million.
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