Kristallnacht

Mass anti-Jewish pogroms across Germany and annexed Austria on 9–10 November.

The Nazi regime had systematically restricted Jewish rights since 1933. The November pogroms of 1938 marked a transition to especially open and centrally directed violence.

During the night of 9–10 November and in the days that followed, synagogues, shops and homes were destroyed. People were humiliated, beaten, murdered and arrested in large numbers.

Thousands of Jewish men were imprisoned in concentration camps. State propaganda tried to portray the organised attacks as a spontaneous reaction by the population.

Kristallnacht became a turning point in the persecution of Europe's Jews. Historians regard it as a major stage on the path to the Holocaust.

Source: View historical source ↗