What Was Kristallnacht?

Kristallnacht (also called the Night of Broken Glass) was a horrible night for the Jewish community and by standing Germans. Herschel Grynszpan was a Polish Jew whose parents were expelled from the Reich and deported back to Poland. Herschel was very angry about his parents being deported, so he set out to give the Nazis an example of his hatred. He had a specific target in mind, a very high-ranking German official. He went to a German embassy in Paris, but his target was nowhere in sight. Instead, he settled for a lower ranking German official named Ernst vom Rath, who was a German diplomat. Immediately after the assassination of Ernst, the people of Germany attacked the Jewish community. 91 people were killed.

The German citizens, the SS, and the SA, were all perpetrators in Kristallnacht. They smashed the windows of Jewish synagogues, Jewish houses, and Jewish businesses. The perpetrators also burned down the Jewish houses, businesses, and synagogues. The firemen came, but only to protect the German citizens houses from burning down. The SS and SA deported over 30,000 Jews to concentration camps. Some historians believe that this was the start of the final solution, and the holocaust. Kristallnacht was spread throughout Germany. It took place on the night of November 9^th, 1938, and into the morning of November 10^th, 1938.

Adelbert Barth's Bitter-Sweet Save

Last night, I was walking home from work, and I saw something very peculiar. There was a group of children, maybe eight years old, breaking someone’s window with rocks! That’s strange; I thought to myself. I’ve never seen anything like this happen in my town. As I was walking closer to my house, almost on my street, I smelt something burning. Was someone using his or her fireplace already? Was the first thing that popped into my head, but as I came closer to my street, I saw what I smelled. The house where the kind Jewish family a few doors down lived in was burning! I dropped my briefcase and ran to the scene. Why was nobody helping? There were people outside watching this spectacle, but no one was doing anything! The fire truck was parked outside their house. I asked the person nearest to me,

“Why aren’t the firemen doing anything?”

“To make sure the actual people’s houses don’t burn, of course!”

I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. I’ve known this family for quite a while, and I had been impressed with how the parents have managed to take care of six-year-old twins and baby. Someone has to do something! I told myself. I ran inside the burning house, but the heat was too intense to stand much longer. I had to be quick. I ran throughout the house, but I only managed to grab one of the twins, and the baby. I ran out of the house, just as the bottom floor crumbled. I told the six-year-old to take the baby and run to the nearest orphanage, which was just down the street. I looked at the house. I will never forget the people i saved that night, and the people i didn't. Then, all I heard was a loud crack, and I blacked out.

When I awoke on the sidewalk, I took a look around. The house was completely demolished. I walked back to my house, only to find the windows completely smashed. A small price to pay for the lives I saved that night.

Heinrich's Powerful Night

Today was an extremely eventful day. First, my wife and I went Christmas shopping for the children. When I got home, a phone call was received (from Joseph Goebbels) that one of our German diplomats was assassinated, and because of that, tonight, we would begin the first step in the final solution. My role in this, of course, would be to supply SS soldiers to help the German citizens burn down Jewish synagogues, and anything that belonged to the Jews. As I gave the orders to storm the Jewish community, I felt a strange sense of overwhelming power, and that we could finally justify the revolting group of Jewish people.

Six hours later, I was at the scene. We threw rocks and explosives into houses and businesses of the scum. We burned down synagogues, even some houses. We had to call the fire department, but it was only to put out the fire that was growing on the houses of the non-Jewish people. During this mayhem, we killed 91 Jews. On top of that, we arrested thirty thousand Jewish rats and sent them to concentration camps. We had all of our camps already set up; so many of our soldiers were assigned to live in the concentration camps. We gave orders to kill anyone who got on their nerves, and to kill anyone slacking off or doing anything against regulation. It was a great night for the German race.

Steffie Fenstermacher's Ugly Sight

Tonight I witnessed a horrible sight. People were burning down Jewish synagogues! My own neighbors lit Jewish houses on fire! The kids who went to school with me were harshly beaten, and a couple victims of this crime could never get up off of the ground that they were pushed to. I wanted to tell these people to stop, but what could I do? The whole town, possibly the whole country, was taking part in these actions.

What happened next, was something that I would never, I could never forget. My first grade teacher, my neighbor, and my brother, killed a Jewish student, who was in 12^th grade, just one grade older than my brother. After witnessing this disgusting, and brutal event, I wanted to go home and lie down in my bed, breaking out into tears. After about five seconds, though, I was tempted to grab one of the many SS soldier’s guns, and kill every disgusting pig in Germany who took part in destroying the Jewish synagogues, who burned Jewish houses, who vandalized Jewish businesses, and who killed someone of Jewish faith.

I looked around me, watching children, much younger than I, trip and kick other Jewish children. I saw old Jewish men have their canes ripped out from their hands and beaten to the ground. If I was older than 11, I might have done something. But I was only a mere child in the streets of destruction and hatred. There was nothing I could do.

Mordecai Koertig's Worst Night

I stared out of my window. The German citizens were throwing eggs at my house. I guess I should consider myself lucky, I heard many fire engine sirens, and I was confident that the fires were no accident. I decided to let the German people be, and try to live through this hellish night.

Earlier that night, at around eight o’clock, I witnessed an ugly beating of a six year old Jew, who lives down the street. I sat in my chair, listening to the disgusting slurs that were coming from the outside. I began to hate the people of Germany, and I started to yell at the German people throwing eggs at my home. They told me, “Be quiet, you filthy Jew!” that did it. I ran outside and, a baseball bat in hand, threatened to beat these sick people. Their response? Eggs. I ran towards them, and swung the bat harder than I thought I could. Crack. I heard the bat make contact with a pair of legs. Or maybe it was legs that cracked. All I know is that this only made my new enemies angrier. They ran towards me and hit me in my face and my gut. I swung my bat wildly, and made a pathway for myself through the angry men. I turned towards them, and knocked down the remaining four men.

The SS soldiers did not like this little spectacle, so they grabbed me, and shoved me into a large truck full of many other Jews. We spent the night in the truck, with no food or water. In the morning, we set off towards an unknown destination. After another day, we came to a stop. The SS soldiers gave us each a cup of water, and we started moving again. After two more days, we were given water, and sent to a train. Many more jews were stuffed into the train carts, and in 5 more days, we finally arrived at our new home. Mauthausen,