KRISTALLNACHT

WHAT WAS IT?

• Kristallnacht was a coordinated attack on Jews throughout the German Reich on the night of November 9, 1938, into the following day.

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• On October 27, over 15,000 Jews, originally from Poland, had been expelled from Germany without any warning, they were forcibly transported by train in boxcars then dumped at the Polish border.

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• On November 9, mob violence broke out, as the regular German police stood by and crowds of spectators watched Jews get beaten and murdered by storm troopers, along with member ps of the SS and Hitler Youth

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• About 25,000 Jewish men were rounded up and later sent to concentration camps where they were often brutalized by SS guards and in some cases randomly chosen to be beaten to death.
• The reaction outside Germany was shock and outrage, creating a storm of negative publicity

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• Regarding the economic impact of the damage from Kristallnacht and the massive insurance claims, Hermann Göring stated that the Jews would be billed for the damage and that any insurance money due to them would be confiscated by the state.