9th November 1938 : The Night of Broken Glass

 

On October 28, 1938, 17,000 Jews of Polish citizenship, many of whom had been living in Germany for decades, were arrested and interned in "relocation camps." When 17-year-old Herschel Grynszpan, then a student in Paris, distraught on receiving the news of his family's expulsion, he went to the German embassy and shot Third Secretary Ernst vom Rath, a member of the Nazi party. who died two days later. When arrested by the French police, Grynszpan, hoping his actions would alert the world to the plight of the Jews in Europe, said, "Being a Jew is not a crime. I am not a dog. I have a right to live and the Jewish people have a right to exist on earth."

The assassination provided Adolf Hitler with the excuse he needed to launch a pogrom against German Jews. It would become known as Kristallnacht, "the night of broken glass."referring to the broken glass produced by the smashing of shop windows .The following day Hitlers propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels orchestrated the violence across Germany..Goebbels wrote in his diary: "As was to be expected, the entire nation is in uproar. This is one dead man who is costing the Jews dear. Our darling Jews will think twice in future before simply gunning down German diplomats."  

German Jews had been subjected to repressive policies since 1933, when Nazi leader  Hitler  became chancellor of Germany. However, prior to Kristallnacht, these Nazi policies had been primarily nonviolent. Kristallnacht,  marked the beginning of  violent evil  oppression.

On the night of November 9, 1938, rampaging mobs spurred on by Nazi officials attacked Jews and Jewish communities of Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland region of Czechoskovakia in the street, in their homes, and at their places of work and worship. Nazi paramilitary troops, the Sturmabteilung (SA) allowed the destruction and arrested as many Jews as the jails could hold. Broken glass littered the streets in front of burning synagogues.Firefighters were ordered not to intervene.

Over the coming weeks hundreds of  Jews were dead, more than 900 synagogues were burned, nearly 7,000 Jewish businesses were destroyed, and schools were vandalized and 30,000 Jewish people were arrested. with many taken to Nazi .death camps such as Dachau or Buchenwald..Even the deceased did not escape the pogrom. Many Jewish cemeteries were desecrated. 

Three days later, on November 12, the top Nazi leadership met to enact a wide-ranging set of anti-Semitic laws that segregated Jews into ghettos, placed a curfew on their activities, banned their ownership of guns, suspended their driver's licenses, and confiscated their radios. In addition, the Nazis fined German Jews one billion marks for vom Rath's assassination and for "broken windows." At the end of the meeting, Hermann Göring announced, "I have received a letter written on the Führer's orders requesting that the Jewish question be now, once and for all, coordinated and solved one way or another."

The Nazis’ hatred was well known, but by 1938 they had not come up with the Final Solution — the systematic attempt to murder all the Jews of Europe. There is well-documented evidence that the Nazis tested the waters with the progressive implementation of increased anti-Semitic propaganda and hate.

In April 1933, the Nazis organised a boycott pf Jewish owned businesses. Jews were excluded from civil service jobs, and in October of that year, non-Aryans were  banned from working in Journalism.

This was codified in the racist 1935 Nuremburg Laws, and actions behind them like Kristallnacht. They watched the world’s tepid response and concluded that they could deal with the Jews as they wished.

There were muted protests and news reports of the violence. Yet the world was largely silent to the plight of German Jews and did little to help.

On November 15th, President Roosevelt said. "The news of the past few days from Germany has deeply shocked public opinion in the United States.... I  myself could scarcely believe that such things could occur in a 20th-century civilization."

But when asked  if he would recommend relaxing the country;s strict immigration laws to allow more Jewish refugees into the United States ne replied." That is not in contemplation, we have the quota system."

This passivity emboldened the Nazis to continue their plotting against European Jewry, seeing how easy it was to persecute Jews with no substantive outcry. Kristallnacht became a turning point in German policy, setting into motion the Nazis' systematic extermination of Jews, the Romani people, Communists,, Christians, homosexuals, the mentally ill, and other Nazi enemies:all targeted for destruction and decimation, based on the fascists twisted 'Aryan' concept of a master race that led to what  became known as the Holocaust.

We must never forget these shameful moments in history, that were such a slap on the face of humanity and must accept the fact that history can be repeated.Human beings are capable of doing such wicked things, so that is why we should continue to confront the dangers of intolerance, hate, racism, anti-semitism, prejudice and fascism, and defeat the ideas that continue to create so much pain .

We must never forget the journeys of all persecuted. support those that face hostility today, and when we say never again, we must mean never again. Lets not fail to notice there are disturbing parallels between events that occurred during the holocaust and events that are happening today.

The Holocaust did not start with camps, ghettos and deportations. it started with words of hate.

Governed by a government with an increasing disturbingly authoritarian mindset. Lets not allow divisive language, prejudice. bigotry and hostility be allowed  to roam unchallenged. 

Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) was a prominent Protestant pastor who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps, despite his ardent nationalism. Niemöller is perhaps best remembered for the following  quotation:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
 
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
 
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
 
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

So continue to remember, defend, speak out  and remain vigilant against anti-semitism and, fascism; .

 

 The Night of Broken Glass ; Kristallnacht, 1938