What was the start of the Holocaust? On the night of November 9, 1938, it was final that Hitler declared war on the Jews. This night was called Kristallnacht or “The Night of Broken Glass”. Kristallnacht was mainly instigated by Nazi Party officials and the members of the SA and the Hitler Youth. The name, Kristallnacht literally is German for “Night of Crystal” or more commonly referred to as “The Night of Broken Glass”. This night was named Kristallnacht because of the remains of shattered glass from the windows of Jewish synagogues, homes, and Jewish-owned businesses that remained in the streets of Germany. By the end of the day, the SA or “Storm Troopers” killed more than 91 Jews and injured many others, 177 synagogues and 7,500 businesses were completely burned down to the ground.
The cause for the violent outburst was the assassination of a German diplomat in Paris, Ernst vom Rath, two days earlier, on November 7, 1938. Vom Rath was killed by Herschel Grynszpan, a Jewish teenager whose parents had been recently deported out of Germany, along with 17,000 other Polish Jews. After his parents lived in Germany for 27 years, they got relocated to Poland. Revenge was the real reason why Grynszpan killed Vom Rath, revenge. The Nazi’s had treated his family and millions of other Jewish families with no respect and treated them like they were animals. They were beaten and then thrown into concentration camps as if they mean nothing to the world and nothing to no one. 25,000 men were gathered up later that day, and were sent to concentration camps where they were brutalized by SS guards and sometimes even beaten to death. If these were my family members that were getting brutally beaten then I definitely would have revenge on the people that are hurting my family. Grynszpan had every right to do what he did and personally I think the Nazi’s deserved it.
Many children were transported out of Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia by “Kindertransports” and were bound for England. For the next 11 months, these “Kindertransports” carried 10,000 Jewish children safely to England. “But on the other hand, their parents remained, trapped by their misguided belief that things couldn’t get much worse. Only one child in 10 would ever see his or her parents again (Amicor Preserve Blog)”. Most parents boarded a train headed in the opposite direction: east to Theresienstadt, a concentration camp in Czechoslovakia.
What would have happened if Herschel Grynszpan never killed Ernst vom Rath? Would Kristallnacht have ever existed? The name Kristallnacht would probably not have been used but the violent outburst would have happened eventually if Grynszpan didn’t assassinate vom Rath. Kristallnacht could have been used as the name for another battle that would have shattered glass everywhere on Germany’s streets. But Adolf Hitler and the Nazi’s would have started slaughtering the Jew s because Hitler thought they were the reason why Germany was blamed for World War I. To Hitler, the Jews were the cause of every little thing that has gone wrong in Germany. Kristallnacht or “The Night of Broken Glass” was perhaps the most important aspect of the Holocaust and the start of the persecution of Jews.
Kristallnacht was important indeed. It technically did start the Holocaust. But it might have been a mistake. Maybe the Kristallnacht and the assassination were not even related. Like you said, Germans would have attacked the Jews anyway, so maybe it was just a cover-up.
ReplyDeleteThere could be two different sides to this article. mine is that Kristallnacht was the starting of the Holocaust because Jews were not liked by the Germans during this time.
ReplyDeleteoh and by the way, I like the part about how the children get transported safely to England. Someone has to be safe in this mess
ReplyDeleteRegardless of if Herschel Grynszpan never killed Ernst vom Rath or not, Hitler still would have waged war on the Jews. Hitler's mind was set that he wanted to exterminate them and he would have done it if Ernst vom Rath was killed or not.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Hannah, the Nazis were a terrible group of people that would have killed the Jews even if it didnt start with Kristallnacht. But you have to start somewhere, maybe this was how they wanted to start?
ReplyDeleteI think by starting with this, it showed dominence. I agree that you have to start some where, and by starting with this they created a scare through out the jewish family. But why, specifically, would they start with this?
ReplyDeleteOf the small research I did on Ernst vom Rath's death, it seems like Herschel Grynszpan only wanted to kill someone of the Nazis group who was in an important position but who wouldn't be too hard to take out, which turned out to vom Rath. I suppose they used the death of Rath as an excuse to start their campaign, to take out the Jews. If the murder of one of the diplomats never happened, then their campaign would have been delayed to later on in the time line but would have still happened.
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