Remembering Kristallnacht

[From article]

Kristallnacht—The Night of Broken Glass—was the beginning of Hitler's Final Solution and the Shoah. On November 9, 1938 Nazi storm troopers in Germany and Austria ransacked, demolished and burnt 1000 synagogues, 7000 Jewish businesses, countless Jewish schools, hospitals and community buildings. Rampant looting took place—not by the Nazis, but by civilians. Violence erupted in hundreds of communities, some where only a few Jewish families lived. Almost 100 Jews were murdered and 30,000 were sent off to concentration camps.

In cities throughout Germany and parts of Austria, Jewish residents were tormented and humiliated, while their property and Jewish artifacts were taken and destroyed. In the city of Benshem, Jews were rounded up and forced to dance while their synagogue was torched. In Rathaus, Jews were forced to kneel in front of their burning synagogue. In Hereford, Jews were forced to sing obscene songs while watching their synagogue burn. Rabbis' beards were plucked off or shaved. In Vienna, Jews were forced to march through the streets in tallitot (prayer shawls) and shredded Torah parchments. In Fortmund, Jews were forced to throw every piece of furniture and possession they owned out of windows, and then each, no matter what their age, was forced to carry each item up the stairs by themselves. In Dusseldorf, Jewish men and women clad in pajamas and nightgowns were forced to walk barefoot on broken glass.

http://www.hadassah.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=keJNIWOvElH&b=7657019&ct=13382533


Remembering Kristallnacht