Kristallnacht (nov 9, 1938 – nov 10, 1938)

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Kristallnacht, also known as the Night of Broken Glass, was a Nazi-led pogrom against Jews from 9-10 November 1938, carried out by the Nazi Party's Sturmabteilung and Schutzstaffel, along with some participation from the Hitler Youth and German civilians. The name comes from the shards of broken glass that littered the streets after the windows of Jewish-owned stores, buildings, and synagogues were smashed. The pretext for the attacks was the assassination of German diplomat Ernst vom Rath by Herschel Grynszpan, a 17-year-old German-born Polish Jew living in Paris.

Jewish homes, hospitals, and schools were ransacked, and hundreds of synagogues were destroyed throughout Germany, Austria, and the Sudetenland. Over 7,000 Jewish businesses were damaged or destroyed, and 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and incarcerated in concentration camps. British historian Martin Gilbert noted that no event in the history of German Jews between 1933 and 1945 was so widely reported as Kristallnacht. Estimates of fatalities caused by the attacks have varied, with early reports estimating 91 Jews killed. Historians view Kristallnacht as a prelude to the Final Solution and the murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust.

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