The Crystal Night (Kristallnacht in German) of 9-10 November 1938 was a wave of violence against Jews in Germany and Austria. This taphoric name for the countless broken glasses from broken glass windows does not accurately account for the level of violence and destruction, and the number of murders committed.
This explosion of violence took as its prime text the assassination of a secretary of the German Embassy in Paris, Ernst vom Rath by Herschel Grynzpan, a young Polish Jew of German origin. Orchestrated by Goebbels, minister of Nazi propaganda, the instructions given to the different organs of the party are clear: plunder, set fire, destroy Jewish institutions and private property of the community , making believe a spontaneous movement of the population.
The aim of the Kristallnacht pogrom is to force German Jews to flee en masse. The goal has been achieved. The number of candidates for human migration is low, but in spite of the world’s indignation about the move, the fronts remain closed.
This absence of sanctions against Nazi Germany leaves all free fields for Hitler to make the Reich free of Jews.
The texts on this site are taken from the exhibition catalogue: La Nuit de Cristal , published in November 2008 by
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