Kristallnacht

Descriptive Essay # 115652

History > European
Holocaust Studies

Kristallnacht

A brief overview of the events of Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass, Germany 1938.

999 words () | 6 sources | MLA | 2009 United States

Paper Summary:

The paper relates that, by 1938, the Nazi government was planning an outbreak of violence against the Jews and had an excuse when a Jew killed a Nazi official. The paper describes Kristallnacht and the Nazis' destruction of synagogues and businesses, the disarming of the Jews and the detaining of healthy male Jews for slave labor. The paper relates that historians believe that Kristallnacht was the turning point in the Nazi policy regarding the Jews and may be considered as the beginning of the "final solution" or the Holocaust.

From the Paper:

"During the 1920's, most German Jews were fully integrated in German society as German citizens. They served in the army and navy, and contributed to every field of German science, business and culture. Following the election of the Nazi party on January 30, 1933, conditions began to change considerably for the Jews. They were singled out by the German propaganda as being responsible for Germany's defeat in the First World War, and the economic problems that followed.
"With the enactment of the Nuremburg Laws in 1935, Jews were stripped of their citizenship and were forbid to marry Germans. Many fled the country in order to escape persecution, but they would soon find that Jews were not looked highly upon in most parts of the world. In an attempt to help, President Roosevelt convened the Evian Conference in July 1938 to address the issue of Jews fleeing Nazi persecution."

Sample of Sources Used:

Bytwerk, Randall. "Nazi Propaganda." Nazi Propaganda by Joseph Goebbels. German Propaganda Archive, 3 June 2008. Web. 14 June 2009.
"The Evian Conference." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 June 2009. <http://www.ushmm.org>.
Fischel, Jack. The Holocaust. N.p.: Greenwood, 1998. Print.
Grobman, Landes. "Kristallnacht." (1996): n. pag. The Holocaust/Shoah Page. Ben S. Austin, 21 Feb. 1996. Web. 14 June 2009.
Halbrook, Stephen P. "The Nazi Paradigm." American Rifleman 149.6 (2001): 52. Registration. Web. 14 June 2009.