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On November
7, Herschel Grynszpan, a distraught 17-year-old refugee Polish Jew
in Paris, whose parents were among the thousands deported to the
Zbaszyn area in Poland, assassinated the Third Secretary in the
German Embassy in Paris. Grynszpan hoped to call public attention to
the plight of the thousands of helpless deportees. Vom Rath died of
his gunshot wounds on the afternoon of November 9. The assassination
prompted the Nazis to implement previously made plans to conduct a
pogrom across Germany and throughout Austria. Although the pogrom
was described officially as a spontaneous popular response to the
murder of the third secretary, it was, in fact, an organized action
at the initiative of Minister of Propaganda Goebbels, and with
Hitler’s consent. That very night, instructions were handed out
across the country. The SA encouraged the masses to take part in the
pogrom. Mass hysteria erupted. Some 1400 synagogues were partially
or totally destroyed. The pogrom was given the name Kristallnacht,
because of the innumerable shop windows that were shattered. Shops
were burgled, plundered, and looted. Property damage was immense.
Jews’ homes were attacked in many locations, many Jews were
wounded, and about 100 Jews were murdered. Some 30,000 Jews were
arrested, most of them affluent and influential, often on the basis
of prepared lists. They were sent to concentration camps, where the
SS subjected them to brutal treatment. Hundreds died; others were
released after signing statements affirming their intention to leave
Germany. Their property was confiscated. In many locations, rioting
continued even after it was officially declared over. After the
pogrom, the Jewish community was assessed a collective fine of 1
billion reichsmarks in reparations for the murder of vom Rath and
was charged for the damage caused on Kristallnacht. The
Kristallnacht pogrom was a watershed in preparing the final
eradication of the Jews’ status in Germany. |
