Kristallnacht (By: Christina S. and Zaiah B.)

             Kristallnacht was the night when the Jewish people were no longer able to live in Germany. This began on the night on November 9^th till the 10^th in 1938, when German Nazis attacked the Jewish and left shattered glass on the street. Therefore the name Kristallnacht fits this battle perfectly. The hostility continued through the night and during the next day.

Just before Kristallnacht on November 7^th a Polish-Jewish student, Herschel Grynszpan shot and murdered the German diplomat. Once Adolf Hitler received the news about the diplomat, he and the Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels discussed the issue and then a gathering of old storm troopers became violent. This went from bad to worst once the telephone orders from Munich had planned extermination by the government.  

On November 9^th at midnight all police units were contacted and told to arrest any victims during the burning of buildings. All fire companies were told to wait and stand by the buildings in flames and were only aloud to interfere if the fire was threatening any properties nearby. In those two days more than one thousand buildings burned down.

The ending of the rampage finished with the discarding of Jewish people in Germany. After Kristallnacht, the Nazi regime had caused significantly troubling times for the Jews to live in Germany. The Nazi government had additionally fined the Jewish community for one billion reichsmarks.

Quotes:  “They watched the Jews come down the road like a catalogue of colours. That wasn’t how the book thief described them, but I can tell you that that’s exactly what they were, for many of them would die. They would each greet me like their last true friend, with bones like smoke, and their souls trailing behind.”  Page 391

Hermann Göring stated: “The swine won’t commit another murder. Incidentally…I would not like to be a Jew in Germany.”

Kristallnacht Article

 Facts:

• Kristallnacht also called “crystal night” or “night of broken glass."
• It began on the night on November 9^th till the 10^th in 1938.
• Roughly ninety Jews were killed and thousands were arrested between the age of         sixteen to sixty.
• On November 9th and 10th thousands of buring buildings throughout the streets of Germany.
• 7  thousands jewish business were also robbed from and destroyed.
• Costed millions of dollars to clean up the borken glass on the streets.
• After Kristallnacht, The Nazi Government had forbid Jewish people to most public places.
• Jewish people had authorized curfews from the Nazi Government as well.