Ernst Vom Rath

According to the German government, Kristallnacht, or crystal night, came about because of an event that occurred in Paris on November 7, 1938. This event being the assassination of Ernst vom Rath, a German diplomat, by a young Polish Jew named Herschel Grynszpan. Herschel’s reasons for murdering Ernst vom Rath were that his parents had been among the thousands of Polish Jews forced out of Germany who were not allowed into Poland and that he wanted to bring worldwide attention to the terrible treatment of European Jews with his actions. His plan did not work out as he had hoped, however. His assassination of Ernst vom Rath actually worsened the treatment of Jews in Germany as it gave the German government an excuse to orchestrate Kristallnacht without having to take blame for it since the government could say that citizens actually caused Kristallnacht on their own out of outrage at the murder. …show more content…
Nazi leaders then passed these orders on to their local counterparts who delivered these commands to storm trooper and Hitler Youth units. These orders were then carried out throughout Germany and Austria by these units, who masqueraded as civilians in order to support the government’s lie about how Kristallnacht started.
During the riots that ensued, these units shattered shop windows and stole from at least seven thousand Jewish businesses. Additionally, they destroyed or burned down hundreds of Jewish synagogues. On top of these, they defiled Jewish cemeteries, homes, and schools. Finally, these storm trooper and Hitler Youth units went as far as humiliating, attacking, raping and even killing Jews who were in their homes in some