Questions for Nov 18

7. Kristallnacht, also known as Night of Broken Glass, occurred in November 1938. Jewish homes and 7,500 Jewish owned shops and businesses were ruined. Other damage that occurred include destruction of over one thousand synagogues, killing ninety one percent of the Jewish population and sending several Jews to concentration camps. Hitler only permitted police and fire brigades to provide assistance when German life and property were at risk. Also in order to impair the Jewish economy, it was decided that Jews were responsible to pay for clean-up and the state only paid Jewish owners a very little amount for their property and then they sold it for its actual value. This eliminated the Jews from the economy, which was the Nazi’s goal. The Nazi’s did this as, “Hitler was concerned about the uninhibited private profiteering for the Aryanizations of Jewish business and property.” The Austrian and German Jewish population was basically wiped out after Kristallnacht.

"Response of the Christian population in Germany to the Nuremberg Laws"

In towns such as Allenstein, a mostly Catholic town, Christians still bought goods from Jewish shops. They also respected and treated the Jews well, as they did not really abide by the race laws. However, the situation was not the same in other cities, which were predominantly Protestant. Everyone in Nuremburg did not approve of the Anti-Semitic laws. The Protestants thought the laws would inhibit riots and propaganda.  Most of the population did not want the Anti-semantic laws. The document states, “It would indeed be desirable to stop such anti-Semitic excesses, which are condemned by the greater part of the population.”