Kristallnacht, by its name in German, was one of the unfortunate foundational milestones of the Holocaust perpetrated by the Nazi regime during World War II. However, many people do not know the details of what happened and, therefore, we are going to review what happened on the night of the broken glass , as this series of events is known in Spanish-speaking countries.
In principle, we have to date these events between the night of November 9, 1938, and the early morning of November 10, 1938, referring to a series of violent acts against the Jewish community, both in Germany and in some regions of Austria and the Czech Republic, which aimed to sow terror among the members of this massive collective.
What happened during the night of the broken glass?
For several hours, approximately 400 synagogues and other Jewish places of worship, as well as their own homes and businesses, were burned by fans of the National Socialist Party already commanded by Adolf Hitler, in a carefully planned commando attack.
This last clarification is important because, for some years, the attacks had been made to be seen as spontaneous , alluding to the crime of a German merchant at the hands of a young Jew, a fact that several historians deny, which in no case could have justified such massacre, and that one or another believes that it was just a pretext for Kristallnacht.
Returning to the events, during the next two days, about 90 Jews were murdered in the streets, while another 30,000 were imprisoned, and would later be sent to the Dachau concentration camp , which very few managed to survive, almost as an advance. of what the Nazi actions would be during the following decade, until the end of the armed conflict.
Undoubtedly, the violence was instigated by the Nazi Party, which left in the hands of the SA, as the paramilitary stormtroopers were known then, and the Hitler Youth, to carry out these vile attacks against a Jewish people already devoid of the most of his basic rights for a long time, as the persecution against him escalated.
As if that were not enough, the authorities determined that the damage had been caused by the Jews, so not only were they prohibited from rebuilding their properties, but they were also fined about 400 million dollars at the time, leaving many completely broke, and anticipating the dark future that loomed over them.
