Kristallnacht 1938

Reconstructs the history of the "Kristallnacht" pogrom in Germany, focusing on the perpetrators rather than the victims. Dismisses some popularly-held myths concerning the event. For instance, "Kristallnacht" was not a departure from the predominantly legal and bureaucratic Nazi strategy for persecuting Jews. Outbursts of violent antisemitism were usual in Germany from 1933 on, and "Kristallnacht" only surpassed them in intensity. The "Reich pogrom" was not initiated from the top: anti-Jewish riots in Hessen and other areas began as early as 7 November and became more widespread the next day; on 9 November the Nazi leadership took over the initiative. In contrast to another myth, members of the SA constituted a minority of the perpetrators, most of whom were ordinary people, workers, schoolchildren, etc. The majority of the Germans, even if they did not participate in the riots, approved of the pogrom. In the course of "Kristallnacht", 31,000 Jewish men were detained in the Dachau, Buchenwald, and Sachsenhausen camps; dwells on conditions in these camps. Many new anti-Jewish measures were introduced by the Nazis following the pogrom. The pogrom had negative repercussions in the West, even among pro-German circles in Britain and the USA. Discusses, also, the preparations for the trial of Herschel Grynszpan in 1940-42. After 1945, ca. 7,000 Germans were indicted in West Germany for crimes relating to the "Kristallnacht" pogrom; only several hundred were indicted in Austria. The "Kristallnacht" pogrom has become an important element in the ritualized commemoration of Nazism in Germany. (From the Bibliography of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism - The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)