What events led up to the Kristallnacht pogrom?

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Topic:	Sociology > Education
User:	""
Date:	13 Mar 2005 10:04:35 AM
Object:	What events led up to the Kristallnacht pogrom?

What events led up to the Kristallnacht pogrom?
a) Poland passed a law which required Polish Jews living outside the
country return to Poland to have their passports stamped. If these
stamps were not obtained by a particular date, the passports would
become invalid and the bearer would no longer be recognized by Poland
as a citizen of that country. Nazi Germany, fearing that it would
suddenly have a large population of 'stateless' Jews, forced thousands
of Polish Jews living in Nazi Germany back to Poland to obtain the
required stamp. After the stamp was obtained, the Jews were free to
return to Germany, which is what most of them did. Among those
deported were the parents of Hershel Grynspan, a young Polish Jew
living in Paris. While several stories exist about his motivation,
including anger over what he considered the mistreatment of his
family, it is not certain why he went to the German embassy to kill
the German ambassador. Because he was not allowed to see the
ambassador, the assassin shot another German diplomat instead who died
a few days later from his wound. Goebbels is generally blamed for
instigating the pogrom against German Jews that took place thereafter.
SR)Irving; Wickert; Butz
====================================================
--
"Let the gas chambers remain closed to prying eyes, and to imagination."
E. Wiesel, All Rivers Run to the Sea, Memoirs (New York: Random House/ Knopf, 1995), p. 74.
.

User: ""
Title: Re: What events led up to the Kristallnacht pogrom?	13 Mar 2005 11:01:02 AM

wrote:

thousands

of Polish Jews living in Nazi Germany back to Poland to obtain the
required stamp. After the stamp was obtained, the Jews were free to
return to Germany, which is what most of them did. Among those
deported were the parents of Hershel Grynspan, a young Polish Jew
living in Paris. While several stories exist about his motivation,
including anger over what he considered the mistreatment of his
family, it is not certain why he went to the German embassy to kill
the German ambassador. Because he was not allowed to see the
ambassador, the assassin shot another German diplomat instead who

died

a few days later from his wound. Goebbels is generally blamed for
instigating the pogrom against German Jews that took place

thereafter.
http://www.mtsu.edu/~baustin/knacht.html
Kristallnacht
Almost immediately upon assuming the Chancellorship of Germany, Hitler
began promulgating legal actions against Germany's Jews. In 1933, he
proclaimed a one-day boycott against Jewish shops, a law was passed
against kosher butchering and Jewish children began experiencing
restrictions in public schools. By 1935, the Nuremberg Laws deprived
Jews of German citizenship. By 1936, Jews were prohibited from
participation in parliamentary elections and signs reading "Jews Not
Welcome" appeared in many German cities. (Incidentally, these signs
were taken down in the late summer in preparation for the 1936 Olympic
Games in Berlin).
In the first half of 1938, numerous laws were passed restricting Jewish
economic activity and occupational opportunities. In July, 1938, a law
was passed (effective January 1, 1939) requiring all Jews to carry
identification cards. On October 28, 17,000 Jews of Polish citizenship,
many of whom had been living in Germany for decades, were arrested and
relocated across the Polish border. The Polish government refused to
admit them so they were interned in "relocation camps" on the Polish
frontier.
Among the deportees was Zindel Grynszpan, who had been born in western
Poland and had moved to Hanover, where he established a small store, in
1911. On the night of October 27, Zindel Grynszpan and his family were
forced out of their home by German police. His store and the family's
possessions were confiscated and they were forced to move over the
Polish border. Zindel Grynszpan's seventeen-year-old son, Herschel, was
living with an uncle in Paris. When he received news of his family's
expulsion, he went to the German embassy in Paris on November 7,
intending to assassinate the German Ambassador to France. Upon
discovering that the Ambassador was not in the embassy, he settled for
a lesser official, Third Secretary Ernst vom Rath. Rath, was critically
wounded and died two days later, on November 9.
The assassination provided Goebbels, Hitler's Chief of Propaganda, with
the excuse he needed to launch a pogrom against German Jews.
Grynszpan's attack was interpreted by Goebbels as a conspiratorial
attack by "International Jewry" against the Reich and, symbolically,
against the Fuehrer himself. This pogrom has come to be called
Kristallnacht, "the Night of Broken Glass."
On the nights of November 9 and 10, gangs of Nazi youth roamed through
Jewish neighborhoods breaking windows of Jewish businesses and homes,
burning synagogues and looting. In all 101 synagogues were destroyed
and almost 7,500 Jewish businesses were destroyed. 26,000 Jews were
arrested and sent to concentration camps, Jews were physically attacked
and beaten and 91 died (Snyder, Louis L. Encyclopedia of the Third
Reich. New York: Paragon House, 1989:201).
The official German position on these events, which were clearly
orchestrated by Goebbels, was that they were spontaneous outbursts. The
Fuehrer, Goebbels reported to Party officials in Munich, "has decided
that such demonstrations are not to be prepared or organized by the
party, but so far as they originate spontaneously, they are not to be
discouraged either." (Conot, Robert E. Justice at Nuremberg. New York:
Harper & Row, 1983:165)
Three days later, on November 12, Goering called a meeting of the top
Nazi leadership to assess the damage done during the night and place
responsibility for it. Present at the meeting were Goering, Goebbels,
Reinhard Heydrich, Walter Funk and other ranking Nazi officials. The
intent of this meeting was two-fold: to make the Jews responsible for
Kristallnacht and to use the events of the preceding days as a
rationale for promulgating a series of antisemitic laws which would, in
effect, remove Jews from the German economy. An interpretive transcript
of this meeting is provided by Robert Conot, Justice at Nuremberg, New
York: Harper and Row, 1983:164-172):
`Gentlemen! Today's meeting is of a decisive nature,' Goering
announced. `I have received a letter written on the Fuehrer's orders
requesting that the Jewish question be now, once and for all,
coordinated and solved one way or another.'
`Since the problem is mainly an economic one, it is from the economic
angle it shall have to be tackled. Because, gentlemen, I have had
enough of these demonstrations! They don't harm the Jew but me, who is
the final authority for coordinating the German economy. `If today a
Jewish shop is destroyed, if goods are thrown into the street, the
insurance companies will pay for the damages; and, furthermore,
consumer goods belonging to the people are destroyed. If in the future,
demonstrations which are necessary occur, then, I pray, that they be
directed so as not to hurt us.
`Because it's insane to clean out and burn a Jewish warehouse, then
have a German insurance company make good the loss. And the goods which
I need desperately, whole bales of clothing and whatnot, are being
burned. And I miss them everywhere. I may as well burn the raw
materials before they arrive.
`I should not want to leave any doubt, gentlemen, as to the aim of
today's meeting. We have not come together merely to talk again, but to
make decisions, and I implore competent agencies to take all measures
for the elimination of the Jew from the German economy, and to submit
them to me.'
It was decided at the meeting that, since Jews were to blame for these
events, they be held legally and financially responsible for the
damages incurred by the pogrom. Accordingly, a "fine of 1 billion marks
was levied for the slaying of Vom Rath, and 6 million marks paid by
insurance companies for broken windows was to be given to the state
coffers. (Snyder, Louis L. Encyclopedia of the Third Reich. New York:
Paragon House, 1989:201).
Kristallnacht turns out to be a crucial turning point in German policy
regarding the Jews and may be considered as the actual beginning of
what is now called the Holocaust.
By now it is clear to Hitler and his top advisors that forced
immigration of Jews out of the Reich is not a feasible option.
Hitler is already considering the invasion of Poland.
Numerous concentration camps and forced labor camps are already in
operation.
The Nuremberg Laws are in place.
The doctrine of lebensraum has emerged as a guiding principle of
Hitler's ideology. And,
The passivity of the German people in the face of the events of
Kristallnacht made it clear that the Nazis would encounter little
opposition -- even from the German churches.
Following the meeting, a wide-ranging set of antisemitic laws were
passed which had the clear intent, in Goering's words, of "Aryanizing"
the German economy. Over the next two or three months, the following
measures were put into effect (cf., Burleigh and Wippermann, The Racial
State: Germany, 1933-1945. New York:Cambridge, 1991:92-96):
Jews were required to turn over all precious metals to the government.
Pensions for Jews dismissed from civil service jobs were arbitrarily
reduced.
Jewish-owned bonds, stocks, jewelry and art works can be alienated only
to the German state.
Jews were physically segregated within German towns.
A ban on the Jewish ownership of carrier pigeons.
The suspension of Jewish driver's licenses.
The confiscation of Jewish-owned radios.
A curfew to keep Jews of the streets between 9:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. in
the summer and 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. in the winter.
Laws protecting tenants were made non-applicable to Jewish tenants.
One final note on the November 12 meeting is of critical importance. In
the meeting, Goering announced, "I have received a letter written on
the Fuehrer's orders requesting that the Jewish question be now, once
and for all, coordinated and solved one way or another." The path to
the "Final Solution" has now been chosen. And, all the bureaucratic
mechanisms for its implementation were now in place.
It should be noted that there is some controversy among Holocaust
scholars as to the origin, intent and appropriateness of the term
Kristallnacht. The term, after all, was coined by Walter Funk at the
November 12 Nazi meeting following the pogrom of November 8-10. The
crucial question is whether the term was a Nazi euphemism for an
all-out pogrom against German Jews and whether the Nazis used the term
in a derisive manner. There is considerable evidence that both of the
above questions have an affirmative answer.
Holocaust, and Kristallnacht survivor, Ernest Heppner made the
following observation in a recent (June, 1995) exchange of ideas on the
Internet Holocaust Discussion List:
....as an eyewitness I was very emotionally involved in this event and
its consequences. Like everyone else here in the United States, for
some 50 years I called those horrible days and nights Kristallnacht. I
changed my mind reluctantly when, during my research, I discovered
Goering's intent to use this designation to ridicule this event.
The following sources should be of interest to the subscribers of this
list.
"Die Juden in Deutschland 1933-1945", herausgegeben von Wolfgang Benz,
Verlag C.H. Beck, Munich 1989, part VI, pages 499-544, Der November-
pogrom 1938. The second sentence of this chapter begins: "Der Novem-
berpogrom, als "Reichkristallnacht" im Umgangstonverniedlicht..." (The
Novemberpogrom was "prettified" in the vernacular as crystal night.")
Chapter 6, titled "Die 'Kristallnacht' als Anfang vom Ende", (crystal
night as the beginning of the end) starts: "Man kann den November-
pogrom als ein Ritual oeffentlicher Demueting deuten..." (The
Novemberpogrom can be explained as a ritual for public humiliation...)
The photograph accompanying this chapter it titled: "Vielleicht gab das
zersplitterte Glass Anlass zu dem "Spottnamen Reichskristall- nacht".
(Perhaps the broken glass was used to ridicule the pogrom).
Also see Arnold Paucker's "The Jews in Germany", Tuebingen: J.C.B.
Mohr, 1986, page 220: "Der Novemberpogrom, euphemistisch
'Kristallnacht' genannt, war der Anfang vom Ende..." (The
Novemberpogrom, euphemistically named "Crystal Night" was the beginning
of the end.)
There are additional sources, but I hope the above will serve to
illustrate the fact that, except for the United States, The November
Pogrom appears to be the established term./blockquote>
Walter Pehle makes the following observation:
It is clear that the term Crystal Night serves to foster a vicious
minimalizing of its memory, a discounting of grave reality: such
cynical appellations function to reinterpret manslaughter and murder,
arson, robbery, plunder, and massive property damage, transforming
these into a glistening event marked by sparkle and gleam. Of course,
such terms reveal one thing in stark clarity - the lack of any sense of
involvement or feeling of sympathy on the part of those who had stuck
their heads in the sand before that violent night.
With good reason, knowledgeable commentators urge people to renounce
the continued use of "Kristallnacht" and "Reichskristall- nacht" to
refer to these events, even if the expressions have become slick and
established usage in our language. (Pehle, W. H., 'Editor's Preface' in
Pehle, W. H. (ed.) November 1938, From Reichskristall- nacht to
Genocide, Berg Publishers Inc., NY, 1991, pp. vii-viii (English
edition)
So, it appears, the term "Kristallnacht" or "Crystal Night" was
invented by Nazis to mock Jews on that black November night in 1938. It
is, therefore, another example of Nazi perversion. There are numerous
other examples of this same tendency in the language of the Nazi
perpetrators: Sonderbehandlung ("special treatment") for gassing
victims, Euthanasie for a policy of mass murder of retarded or
physically handicapped patients, "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work Makes you
Free) over the entrance to Auschwitz. When the Nazis launched their
plan to annihilate the remaining Jews in Poland in the fall of 1943,
they called it "Erntefest," or Harvest Festival. While this may have
been a code word, as Froma Zeitlin has observed, it had the same grim
and terrible irony that is reflected in Kristallnacht as in so many
other instances of the perverted uses of language in the Third Reich.
Perhaps most cynical of all is the use of the term, "Endloesung der
Judenfrage" (Final Solution of the Jewish Question), for what is now
known as the Holocaust. Goebbels frequently used such terminology to
amuse his audiences (usually other Nazi officials) and to further
demoralize his victims.
On the other side of this controversy are those who argue that the term
should be retained. In the first place, it is the term which has been
used now for fifty years and connotes significant meaning to those who
study the Holocaust. As Froma Zeitlin (in a message posted to HOLOCAUS
Internet Discussion Group in June, 1995) observes:
But I would like to point out that whether or not the name came into
existence as a Nazi euphemism or not, the event itself and what it has
come to signify has transformed an 'innocent' name into one of
unforgettable and dramatic meaning. The term is permanently out of
circulation for any other use whatsoever. Can you imagine us now using
'Kristallnacht' to refer to some street riot or another, no matter how
extensively the streets were littered with broken glass? Certainly not.
Moreover, what disturbed the German populace was less the sight of
synagogues burning (fires take place all the time, after all -- it
depends on the scale) than of the savage and wasteful vandalism that
confronted bystanders everywhere, disrupting the clean and orderly
streets (to say nothing of consumer convenience). What was indeed
memorable was the sheer quantity of broken glass. A third point was the
economic outcome of this massive breakage. Germany didn't produce
enough plate glass to repair the damages (synagogues did not have to be
replaced -- quite the contrary). The result was twofold: the need to
import glass from Belgium (for sorely needed cash) and the outrage of
indemnifying the Jewish community to pay for the damages. So the broken
glass came to assume yet another outrageous dimension in the wake of
the event.
Paul Lawrence Rose, Penn State University, agrees with the retention of
the term "Kristallnacht" instead of "pogrom" or some other term and
makes the following observation:
Of course, K-nacht was a pogrom of sorts, but it was a German event and
more specifically still, a Nazi event. Replacing it with pogrom
certainly sets it in the larger context of antisemitic massacres in
European history, but it loses the German and Nazi contexts.
And, as Zeitlin observes, the origins of terms do not equal the
historical meanings that they accumulate. To have criticized Goering's
use of language in 1938 would have been appropriate; however, 1996 the
term kristallnacht carries the significance and power it has acquired
over the past fifty years.
--
Philip Mathews
.