During The Holocaust: Kristallnacht

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to lose your family, and have no choice on whether or not it would happen? During the Holocaust, in the month of November, Herschel Grynszpan decided to take action because dire news had reached him. He had learned that his family, along with many other Polish Jews, were to be deported to concentration camps. His choice of action created a catalyst that would incur a night of broken dreams. That night has come to be known as Kristallnacht, which translates to, “Night of Krystal”(Kristallnacht). Herschel Grynszpan was a 17 year old jewish refugee in France. His plan was to assassinate the third secretary of the German Embassy, Ernst vom Rath. His motives were to avenge the deportation of his father to Poland and the constant persecution of the Jews by Germany. Herschel planned on busting in and getting the job done; However, Vom Rath was sent to come out to meet the young man and was shot. Ironically Ernst was actually not an anti-semite, but instead was anti-Nazi. Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi minister of propaganda, together with Reinhard Heydrich, ordered “spontaneous demonstrations” of protest against …show more content…
The damages ranged from broken glass, to torched buildings. Germans pillaged the stores and synagogues, then torched them afterwards. Glass that wasn’t destroyed had slanderous statements against the Jews left on them. The number of synagogues damaged is in the hundreds, if they were even still standing. Throughout all of Germany glass littered the streets as Jews wandered home to see if anything remained. Some of the Jews had been raped, while the culprits for this were punished, no one was punished for any of the assault crimes, burglary, and vandalism. The emergency services were told to only act if fire was reaching a non Jewish business or other buildings(Kristallnacht - Facts &