The title of this entry is in German, and it means Crystal Night. It is one of the horrible euphemism of the 20th century. The more common translation is Night of Broken Glass, but I thought I'd translate the German directly, to make its impact more severe. The 9th November 1938 is the date associated with a night of rampage, wanton destruction and harassment of the worst degree of Jewish people in the Germany of Adolf Hitler. After becoming Reichs Kanzler in 1933, Hitler rapidly put into action a program of ostracising and later mass murdering the Jewish population of Germany and the countries his regime occupied during World War II. Six million were to die. The Kristallnacht pogrom was the start of this horror. Windows were smashed, shops looted that were owned by Jews (made easily distinguishable by the word "Jude" [Jew in German] daubed on their windows. Synagogues were ransacked and set alight.
The background to the events of November 9th, 1938 can be found on this page. Allied to that was a burning of books that ran contrary to the Nazi doctrine, and as it's Banned Books Week, (with thanks to Souternmush) thought it appropriate to tell the tale of the Crystal Night.
The image below shows a synagogue in Munich after the pogrom.
I fight intolerance where I can
It was a horrible evil time from our history. I went to Auschwitz a few years ago and saw firsthand the atrocities commited on the Jewish people. Let us hope we learn from these happenings. Jeannette xx
ReplyDeleteI have read of the events of krisallnact,with horror,many times and of course I abhor this sort of thing as we all do ,it must never be allowed to happen again ,.,.,.,Jan xx
ReplyDeleteI was impressed to see this entry along with your more light hearted ones. Since Doc is of German origin and his grandparents migrated to live in a mostly German Lutheran community in St. Louis, I see how what Hitler did impacted not only the Jews so dreadfully, but people of German origin all over the world. They have had to live with what Hitler did and persuaded and forced the populace to support. We talk about this all the time. I, too, read many books on the Holocaust. It is better to know the truth, so you can fight the spirit of murder better. Gerry
ReplyDeletedear Guido, yes we had to study the horrible part sof WWII in college dn part of highschool. good job! I think that picture along wiht the fire is affective
ReplyDeletenatalie
I remember reading about this horrific date.
ReplyDeleteLori
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