What led to Kristallnacht?
Kristallnacht, or the “Night of Broken Glass,” was a violent, state-sanctioned pogrom that occurred across Nazi Germany on the night of November 9-10, 1938. It marked a pivotal escalation in the Nazi regime’s persecution of Jews, setting the stage for the Holocaust.
To help understand what led to Kristallnacht, this article explores the deep-rooted origins of antisemitism and the events that culminated in a state-wide attack on the Jewish people that started the beginning of the Holocaust.
The origins of antisemitism
Antisemitism, or hatred toward Jews, is an ancient prejudice that began in Europe over 3,000 years ago. The ancient Greeks and Romans were the first civilisations to suppress Jewish culture and identity. The emergence of Christianity and later Islam, both of which promoted their own monotheistic beliefs, sparked religious hatred toward Jews, who refused to accept the theological claims of other faiths.
In mediaeval Europe, antisemitism often manifested violently.
The Christian Church propagated the false idea that Jews were collectively responsible for the death of Jesus, and this belief fueled waves of violent anti-Jewish sentiment, particularly during the Crusades. Jews were marginalised, restricted by laws that limited their occupations, land ownership and rights, making them easy scapegoats for societal ills.
While the 1800s brought some relief, as modern ideas led to the removal of many discriminatory laws, antisemitism simmered beneath the surface. Jews were never fully accepted into European society, and this latent prejudice remained poised for exploitation.
The rise of Nazism
Germany’s defeat in WW1 (1914–1918), and the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles, left the country humiliated, economically crippled and politically unstable. The far-right Nazi Party, led by Adolf Hitler, capitalised on this national despair.
Hitler, who blamed Jews for Germany’s woes, promised to restore the nation’s glory. Exploiting existing antisemitic attitudes, his party gained support and, in 1933, Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany. From this position of power, Hitler dismantled democracy, and Nazism – with its virulent antisemitism – became state policy.
Nazi propaganda
The Nazis were masters of propaganda. They used it to manipulate public opinion, stoke hatred, and consolidate power. Adolf Hitler was presented as the saviour of Germany, and antisemitic stereotypes were perpetuated through Nazi-controlled media. Jews were portrayed as parasitic enemies of the state, undeserving of compassion. Propaganda was not just a tool for dehumanisation but also a way to justify the Nazi regime’s discriminatory laws, laying the groundwork for the atrocities that were to follow.
The introduction of anti-Jewish laws
Beginning in 1933, there were approximately 523,000 Jews living in Germany (less than 1% of the total German population). In 1935, the Nazi regime began enacting laws that systematically stripped German Jews of their rights. These laws intensified over time and included:
- The Law for the Prevention of Offspring with Hereditary Diseases (1933) which legalised the forced sterilisation of people with mental and physical disabilities.
- The Law against the Founding of New Parties. With this law, Germany became a one-party dictatorship.
- Nuremberg Laws (1935): These were a set of racial laws introduced in September 1935 at the Nazi Party’s annual rally in Nuremberg, Germany. The laws aimed to codify the segregation and exclusion of Jews from German society. They defined who was considered a Jew based on ancestry and established the prohibition of marriages and sexual relations between Jews and non-Jews.
- Reich Citizenship Law: This law, one of the Nuremberg Laws, stripped Jewish individuals of their German citizenship, effectively deeming them stateless. It also revoked their civil rights and excluded them from political life.
- Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour: Another component of the Nuremberg Laws, this law prohibited marriages and extramarital relations between Jews and non-Jews. It was part of the Nazis’ attempt to prevent the “pollution” of Aryan blood.
- The Law of the Hitler Youth (1936): to prepare German boys and girls as future leaders of the Aryan race. The Hitler Youth and the League of German Girls indoctrinated young people with Nazi ideologies. All other youth organisations were banned by the Nazi regime.
- The Law on the Alteration of Family and Personal Names (1938): this required Jewish men and women to add Israel or Sara to their names to easily identify them as Jews. All new Jewish parents had to use specific ‘Jewish’ first names approved by the Third Reich.
- Jewish passports invalidated (1938): all passports held by Jewish people in Germany and Austria were invalidated. Jews had to submit their current passports to be stamped with the letter ‘J’ (for ‘Jude’ which is German for ‘Jew’) to make their passports valid before this deadline.
The spark: assassination of Ernst vom Rath
On November 7, 1938, Herschel Grynszpan, a young Polish Jew, assassinated German diplomat Ernst vom Rath in Paris. Grynszpan was motivated by the brutal treatment of his family by the Nazis, but the assassination gave the regime the perfect excuse to escalate its antisemitic campaign.
Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Minister of Propaganda, used the assassination to incite violence, telling a Nazi rally that ‘World Jewry’ had conspired to commit the assassination. On the night of November 9, 1938, Nazis and German citizens (including Hitler Youth) alike attacked Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues in what became known as Kristallnacht.
Kristallnacht: a turning point
Kristallnacht was a terrifying turning point for the Jews of Europe. It signalled the transition from economic and legal oppression to widespread, state-sanctioned violence. Over 90 Jews were murdered, 30,000 were arrested, and Jewish property was destroyed in a frenzy of hate.
But Kristallnacht was not the end; it was only the beginning. It paved the way for the Holocaust, during which 6 million Jews and 5 million others were systematically murdered by the Nazi regime.
