Memories of the Reich crystal night: A look at the 1938 pogrom

Memories of the Reich crystal night: A look at the 1938 pogrom

On November 9th and 10th, 1938, Austria experienced a cruel chapter in its history, which went down in the history books as a "Reichskristallnacht". The events of this night reflect brutal attacks and the terror staged by the National Socialist government against the Jewish population. Joseph Goebbels had orchestrated a state -organized attack to distract from the political and economic crises of the German Empire and further promote the expropriation of Jews.

The preliminary walls that were used for this outburst of violence were advanced. An assassination attempt by the Polish Jew Herschel Grünspan on the German diplomat Ernst von Rath served as a trigger for the violent attack on the Jewish population. During the night, when the SA and SS moved through the streets, over 1400 synagogues and Jewish institutions burned throughout the Reich. In Austria, too, the riots took on frightening dimensions.

fracture of civilization and personal experiences

The November pogrom was not just an isolated event, but a harbinger of systematic persecution that Jews should happen in the coming years. During this feared night, numerous people became victims of brutal sadism and arbitrary violence, which were exercised by state -protected groups such as the Hitler Youth and the SA. The description of contemporary witnesses such as Benno Kern and the memory of the martyrdom of the Jewish community illustrate the high level of brutality and inhumanity that was peculiar of this time.

Benno Kern remembers the horrors that he experienced on the morning of November 10, 1938. On the way to school, he learned about the looting and the devastation that his classmates brought over the Jewish facilities. In his Talmud Torah School, he experienced how teachers and classmates were brutally attacked, which converted his everyday life into a nightmare during that period.

These violent attacks not only extended to facilities, but also to private apartments that were enthusiastically attacked by neighbors. Here there is a frightening dimension of fellow runners; Many in the population could not get enough of the suffering of the Jewish community, fueled by anti -Semitism and hatred.

The importance of the Reich crystal night

The Reichskristallnacht marked a turning point in the National Socialist course against the Jews. The considerable destruction and suffering that was inflicted to the Jewish citizens led beyond the immediate physical attacks, because a monetary component was also introduced. After the pogrom, the Jews demanded a "atonement release" of one billion Reichsmark to pay the damage they had "caused" themselves. This forced payment increased the impression that the Jewish community continued to serve as a scapegoat for all the problems of the German Reich.

The 35,000 arrests and the unbearable conditions in the concentration camps such as Dachau, Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen were another cruel part of that night. The brutality was not only physical, but also psychological, since the humiliating attacks against women and children in the entire nation were normalized as part of everyday life.