KRISTALLNACHT

The evening of November 9, 1938 an organized pogrom was unleashed against Jews all over Germany. Synagogues were burned, businesses destroyed and Jews were pulled from their homes to be harrassed, beaten, and murdered. The infamous event was named Kristallnacht in reference to the enormous quantity of shattered glass from Jewish shop windows that littered German cities and towns the next day. In the aftermath, Nazi actions to completely eliminate Jews from German economic life intensified greatly. Detailed plans were put into action for confiscation of Jewish businesses and property, restrictions of civil rights for Jews, and finally the deportation of all Jews to concentration camps.