Kristallnacht

Nov 9, 2010 at 2:57 PM | Posted by Rabbi Joshua


Tonight, November 9-10, marks the 72nd anniversary of Kristallnacht - the Night of Broken Glass.

It is called the "Night of Broken Glass" because on this night, in 1938, thousands of rioters stormed Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues causing enormous amounts of damage throughout Germany and Austria.

Just before midnight on November 9, the Gestapo chief Heinrich Müller sent a telegram to all police units informing them:

"In shortest order, actions against Jews and especially their synagogues will take place in all of Germany. These are not to be interfered with."

Instead of arresting the perpetrators of these events, police began rounding up and arresting the victims – Jews all over German occupied territories. Fire companies stood by synagogues in flames with explicit instructions to let the buildings burn. They were to intervene only if a fire threatened adjacent “Aryan” properties.

In two days and nights, more than 1,000 synagogues were burned or damaged, over 7,500 Jewish businesses were looted and ransacked, and at least 91 Jews were killed. Rioters also vandalized Jewish hospitals, homes, schools, and cemeteries. The attackers were often neighbors.

Some 30,000 Jewish males between 16 - 60 were arrested, and deported to concentration camps. Kristallnacht marked the beginning of the Holocaust.

72 years later we still remember, and will never forget!


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3 comments

  1. Diana Yasmeen Says:
    Posted on November 10, 2010 at 2:14:00 AM EST

    reading this just makes me cry. i wonder how my grand-parents and great-grandparents have felt during this night - they won't talk about it.

    in my home town, there was a beautiful synagogue, see http://www.edwardvictor.com/Images/GrossGerau.jpg it was destroyed during this night. Jews had been living in this town since 1339 when it is recorded that they had to pay "Jew-money" (Judengeld), a tax for being jewish, to the count.

    those who during Kristallnacht did not get deported, were forced to "clean up the mess" and paint white their facades, and live in their destroyed houses where the heating was turned off (November - the winter had only just begun!). barely a year later, the remnant was deported to Buchenwald and on Nov 7, 1940 the mayor declared the town Jew-free.

    mine were from the region around Mainz, Speyer, Worms, Wiesbaden - des Müller, Meyer, Hirsch, Katz - and except for 3, all of them were sent to Therezin and Auschwitz, and nobody came back.

  2. Rabbi Joshua Says:
    Posted on November 10, 2010 at 10:19:00 AM EST

    Yasmeen,

    Thank you so much for sharing. Monique's grandparents were also Holocaust survivors.

    Let's keep the memories of our families and our people alive, and never forget!

    Zichronam livracha.

  3. rik Says:
    Posted on November 12, 2010 at 10:38:00 AM EST

    Is it realy over?

    Pray for the PEACE of Yerushalayim.

    "Shalom 'aleikhem, mal'akhey-hasharet, mal'akhey-Elyon,miMelekh-malkhey-ham'lakim, HaKadosh, barukh hu, Bo'akhem l'shalom,...barkuni l'shalom,...tzetkhem l'shalom...."

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