On November 9th and 10th, 1938, Nazi German leaders organized a series of violent, nationwide attacks against Jewish communities. This event came to be called the "Night of Broken Glass," or Kristallnacht. The names refer to the broken glass from store windows that littered the streets after the attacks. Kristallnacht was a terrifying escalation of violence. After the attacks, many Jews decided they had to flee Nazi Germany for their own safety.
On the night of November 9th, Nazi leaders directed groups of their followers to wreak havoc on Jewish life. They broke into homes and terrorized Jewish families, vandalized thousands of Jewish-owned businesses, and destroyed Jewish cemeteries. During the attacks, Nazis set hundreds of synagogues on fire. Following orders given by Nazi leaders, policemen and firefighters did not intervene to stop the destruction. The rioters also attacked and beat individual Jewish people. Hundreds of Jews died during Kristallnacht and its aftermath.
Ordinary Germans reacted in varying ways. Some supported or joined in the riots, while others found the violence and destruction of property disturbing. Kristallnacht was widely reported on in America. No other story about the persecution of Jews received such widespread and sustained attention from the American press at any other time during the Nazi era.
Kristallnacht was the first instance in which the Nazi regime imprisoned people on a large scale simply because they were Jews. Up to 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Hundreds died as a result of the brutal treatment they received in the camps. In the following months, Nazi authorities released many of these men usually after they could prove they had plans to leave Nazi Germany.
Nazi leaders used Kristallnacht to advance their goal of making Jews leave Germany. After seeing their homes, businesses, and places of worship destroyed, many Jews concluded that there was no future for them in Nazi Germany, and fled to other countries. Kristallnacht was a significant step in the Nazi persecution of Jews, which ultimately culminated in the murder of six million Jewish men, women, and children.
