KRISTALLNACHT
On October 28th, 1938, thousands of Jews of Polish nationality living in Germany were arrested and deported. On November 7th, Herschel Grynszpan, the 17-year-old son of expelled Polish Jews, shot Ernst vom Rath, the third secretary in the German Embassy in Paris. Vom Rath died two days later. This triggered the pogrom commonly known as Kristallnacht or Night of Broken Glass.
From November 9th – 10th, rioting masses attacked Jewish people across Germany. They targeted Jewish homes, synagogues, businesses, schools and cemeteries. Approximately 2,000 synagogues and 7,500 Jewish businesses were burned or destroyed. Nearly 30,000 Jews were arrested. Scores were injured and about one hundred were killed. The name Kristallnacht, translated as crystal night, refers to the broken glass from the windows of destroyed Jewish-owned buildings.
The Nazis falsely asserted the destruction was a spontaneous reaction to the Ernst vom Rath shooting, but the pogrom, however, was planned. It was mostly instigated by non-civilians (Nazi Party officials and members of the Sturmabteilung (SA)) and the Hitler Youth. Many historians view Kristallnacht as the pivotal incident that marked the beginning of the Holocaust.
In the aftermath, the government announced that Jewish people were to blame for Kristallnacht and levied a penalty of one billion Reichsmark, the German currency at that time, on them. Furthermore, the government seized insurance payouts to all Jews, which forced the Jewish community to pay for repairs themselves.
During 1938, quality of life for German Jews rapidly declined. Adolf Hitler, despite some criticism, had earned support from most of the German people. He had been elected as Chancellor at the peak of the German economic crisis in 1933, with unemployment reaching about 30% and by 1938, many believed he had delivered positive results. In the meantime, the Nazi government had been relentlessly churning out propaganda against the Jews. The government had begun taking away power from Jews in the mid-1930s, and by the late 1930s, there was considerable difficulty for German Jews to leave Germany.
A timeline of selected events from 1933 through 1938 is found below. The timeline provides a chronological list of events that contributed to diminished life quality or excluded Jews from German economics. Timeline sources include: The Holocaust Museum & Learning Center (located in St Louis, MO), The History Place, and FCIT’s A Teacher’s Guide to the Holocaust.
- January 30, 1933: Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany.
- February 28, 1933: Hitler was given emergency powers as a result of the Reichstag fire.
- March 24, 1933: The Enabling Act was passed by the German Parliament, giving Hitler dictatorial powers.
- April 1, 1933: Jewish shops and businesses were boycotted.
- April 7, 1933: Jews were barred from holding civil service, university, and state positions.
- April 11, 1933: A decree was issued that defined a non-Aryan as “anyone descended from non-Aryan, especially Jewish, parents or grandparents. One parent or grandparent classifies the descendant as non-Aryan…especially if one parent or grandparent is of the Jewish faith.”
- May 10, 1933: Books written by Jews, political dissidents, and others not approved by the state were destroyed in public burnings.
- July 14, 1933: East European Jewish immigrants were stripped of German citizenship.
- September, 1933: The Reich Chamber of Culture was established and excluded Jews from the Arts.
- September 29, 1933: Jews were prohibited from owning land.
- October 4, 1933: Jews were prohibited from being newspaper editors.
- 1933-1935: It was officially taught in German schools that “non-Aryans” were racially inferior. Jewish children were prohibited from participating in “Aryan” sports, clubs, and school orchestras. Many towns banned Jewish children from playgrounds, swimming pools, and parks.
- January 24, 1934: Jews were banned from the German Labor Front.
- May 17, 1934: Jews were denied national health insurance.
- July 22, 1934: Jews were prohibited from attaining legal qualifications.
- August 2, 1934: German President von Hindenburg died. Hitler became Führer.
- May 21, 1935: Jews were banned from serving in the military.
- May, 1935: “No Jews” signs were posted outside German towns, shops and restaurants.
- August 6, 1935: Jewish performers/artists were forced to join Jewish Cultural Unions.
- September 15, 1935: Nuremberg Race Laws against Jews were decreed, depriving German Jews of citizenship.
- November 15, 1935: Germany defined a “Jew” as: anyone with three Jewish grandparents; someone with two Jewish grandparents who identifies as a Jew.
- March 3, 1936: Jewish doctors were barred from practicing medicine in German institutions.
- August 1, 1936: Olympic games began in Berlin. In an effort to gain favorable public opinion from foreign visitors, actions against Jews were temporarily suspended and anti-Jewish signs were removed.
- January, 1937: Jews were banned from certain professional occupations, including accountants, dentists, and teaching Germans.
- July 2, 1937: Further restrictions were imposed on Jewish students attending non-Jewish German schools.
- November 8, 1937: The “Eternal Jew” travelling exhibition opened in Munich.
- November 16, 1937: Jews were restricted from travel outside of Germany to special cases.
- April 22, 1938: Jews were prohibited from changing the names of Jewish-owned businesses.
- April 26, 1938: Jews were forced to register wealth and property.
- June 14, 1938: Jews were forced to register their businesses.
- July, 1938: At a League of Nations conference with delegates from 32 countries, not one country agreed to accept Jews fleeing Hitler.
- July 6, 1938: Jews were prohibited from trading and providing certain specified commercial services.
- July 23, 1938: Jews were forced to apply for identity cards from the police.
- July 25, 1938: Jewish doctors were prohibited from practicing medicine.
- August 1, 1938: The Office of Jewish Emigration was established in Vienna to increase the pace of forced emigration.
- August 11, 1938: The synagogue in Nuremberg was destroyed by the Nazis.
- August 17, 1938: Jewish women were required to add Sarah and Jewish men were required to add Israel to their names on all legal documents.
- September 27, 1938: Jews were prohibited from all legal practices.
- October 5, 1938: Jewish passports were required to be stamped with a large red “J.”
- October 28, 1938: 17,000 Jews of Polish nationality living in Germany were arrested and expelled to Poland. Poland refused them entry, which left them in “No-Man’s Land” near the border.
- November 7, 1938: Ernst vom Rath, third secretary in the German Embassy in Paris, was shot by Herschel Grynszpan, the 17-year-old son of deported Polish Jews. He died two days later.
- November 9-10, 1938: Kristallnacht, commonly referred to as The Night of Broken Glass, was triggered by the Ernst vom Rath shooting.
- November 12, 1938: Jews were charged one billion marks for damages related to Kristallnacht.
- November 15, 1938: All remaining Jewish pupils were expelled from non-Jewish German schools.
- December 2-3, 1938: Jews were banned from public streets on certain days and prohibited from having drivers licenses and car registrations.
- December 3, 1938: Jews were forced to relinquish businesses, real estate, securities, and jewelry to the government at artificially low prices.
- December 8, 1938: Jews were no longer permitted to attend universities.
Click to learn more about Crushing the Red Flowers, an award-winning, historical novel set in 1938 Germany. The novel alternates between two twelve-year-olds, Emil, a German-Jewish boy, and Friedrich, a boy in Hitler’s Jungvolk.
KRISTALLNACHT RESOURCES
JUNGVOLK / HITLER YOUTH
Upon entrance into the Hitler Jugend, which is known in English as the Hitler Youth, children repeated the following: “I swear to devote all my energies and my strength to the savior of our country, Adolf Hitler. I am willing and ready to give up my life for him, so help me God.”
The Hitler Youth was founded in 1926. Then, in 1931, Baldur von Schirach was chosen as Reich Youth Leader to unify all Nazi youth organizations. By 1935, about 60% of Germany’s youth belonged to the Hitler Youth.
The organization was comprised of two divisions: The Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) for boys aged 14-18, and the Deutsches Jungvolk (German Youth) for boys ages 10-14. The Jungvolk operated as a subdivision of the Hitler Youth. At age ten, boys were given uniforms and required to join. They participated in physical training as well as camping trips, hikes, singing, and marching.
On December 1st, 1936, Hitler made membership mandatory for any child aged ten or older. Parents who protested were threatened with prosecution. Boys who refused to join were often ostracized. Shortly after 1936, the Hitler Youth banned all other youth groups, including the boy scouts, and emerged as the single official youth organization of the Nazi government.
Competition was heavily emphasized in the Hitler Youth. Most activities were turned into contests. From sports and games to singing and marching to camping and orienteering, nearly everything was measured and compared. Young boys were encouraged to box to reinforce aggressive behavior. Educational standards were lowered, while rewards were given for excelling at strenuous athletic drills. Over time, the groups operated as a para-military organization. Young men were trained in weaponry and survival under strict supervision and as early as 1937, a rifle school was created. In later years, boys played active roles in the war, performing duties for men who had been drafted or killed. By the end, the Nazis began sending young boys to the front. These children played a significant role in German defenses.
In 1938, during the pogrom commonly referred to as Kristallnacht, Police watched on as Jews were beaten and their shops and synagogues destroyed. The Hitler Youth actively contributed to the devastation. Upon learning of the extent to which the Hitler Youth was involved, Schirach forbade further “criminal actions.”
By 1939, over 80% of Germany’s youth belonged to the Hitler Youth and members were, as Schirach stated, expected to completely surrender themselves to the National Socialist world view. Children were obliged to flush out anyone who disapproved of Hitler. Some even went as far as to turn in their own parents.
Adolf Hitler thought the future of his empire rested in young people. He understood the potential of creating an army of impressionable youths and attempted to indoctrinate an entire generation. The Nazi government perversely manipulated their zeal to use them as pawns to further their agenda.
A timeline of the Hitler Youth from 1933 through 1939 is found below. Timeline sources include: The History Place: Hitler Youth Timeline.
- March, 1922: Adolf Hitler formed the first Nazi Party youth group.
- July, 1926: The Hitler Youth was formally established. Kurt Gruber was appointed its leader.
- August, 19/20, 1927: Gruber led about 300 Hitler Youth members in a march at the Nuremberg Rally.
- April, 1929: The Hitler Youth was acknowledged as the Nazi Party’s only official youth group.
- July, 1930: The Bund Deutscher Mädel, the League of German Girls, was created.
- October 30, 1931: Baldur von Schirach became Nazi Youth Leader.
- April 13, 1932: The German Weimar government temporarily banned the Hitler Youth.
- January 30, 1933: Hitler became Chancellor of Germany.
- March 23, 1933: Hitler gained dictatorial powers through the Enabling Act.
- June, 1933: Baldur von Schirach became Youth Leader of the German Reich.
- August 2, 1934: Hitler became Führer of Germany.
- October 7, 1934: City youths were sent to work on farms through the Reich Land Service.
- December, 1936: Hitler Youth membership became mandatory for all youths aged 10 to 18 through the Hitler Youth Law.
- November 9, 1938: The Hitler Youth were involved in Kristallnacht, the pogrom commonly referred to as the Night of Broken Glass.
- March 25, 1939: The Hitler Youth Law was tightened. Resistant boys were drafted into the Hitler Youth under threats that, if the children did not join, parents would face criminal charges and their boys would be taken from them.
Click to learn more about Crushing the Red Flowers, an award-winning, historical novel set in 1938 Germany. The novel alternates between two twelve-year-olds, Emil, a German-Jewish boy, and Friedrich, a boy in Hitler’s Jungvolk.
JUNGVOLK / HITLER YOUTH RESOURCES
ANTI-BULLYING & HATE CRIMES
BULLYING
According to stopbullying.gov, over 1 in 4 U.S. students say they’ve been bullied at school. As defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Department of Education, the key elements of bullying are: unwanted aggressive behavior; observed or perceived power imbalance; and repetition or high likelihood of repetition. It’s usually not just between the bully and the person being bullied, but frequently involves groups who support the bullying. Bullying can happen anywhere and if it occurs through technology, it’s considered electronic bullying or cyber bullying. Some bullying is considered criminal, such as harassment, hazing, or assault.
Due to its complexity, a single approach to prevent bullying does not exist, but methods that involve the whole community and foster a culture of respect, show the most promise. Bystanders who intervene make a tremendous difference. Additionally, adults can help prevent children from being bullied through encouraging open communication, giving confidence to children, modeling kind-heartedness, and urging children to get help when needed.
“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” – Nelson Mandela
HATE CRIMES
“If we all stood up to bigotry, we could change history.” This powerful and true statement was taken from the ADL (Anti-Defamation League) website.
What can we do? Take action! Stand up to bullying, report an incident, sign a petition, speak at your religious organization, attend a vigil, or repair acts of vandalism. Any action is meaningful action.
To some extent, categorization and bias are human conditions. But when categorization and bias hurt and terrorize individuals, they are considered hate crimes. A selected timeline of hate crime legislation from the Human Rights Campaign is below:
- April 23, 1990: President George H.W. Bush signed the Hate Crimes Statistics Act, which required the Department of Justice to publish data about crimes motivated by hatred based on race, religion, ethnicity and sexual orientation.
- March 1, 1993: The Hate Crimes Sentencing Enhancement Act was reintroduced in the House, which would allow judges to impose harsher penalties for hate crimes.
- November 4, 1993: The Hate Crimes Sentencing Enhancement Act was added as an amendment to the Violent Crime and Law Enforcement Act of 1994.
- November 13, 1997: The Hate Crimes Prevention Act was introduced in the House and the Senate. The bill would extend the protection of the current federal hate crimes law to include those who are victimized because of their sexual orientation, gender or disability and strengthen current law regarding hate crimes based on race, religion and national origin.
- June 7, 1998: James Byrd Jr. was mortally assaulted and died. It was documented as a hate crime.
- October 12, 1998: Matthew Shepard died at a hospital in Fort Collins, Colo.
- March 1999: The Hate Crimes Prevention Act was reintroduced in the House and the Senate.
- July 22, 1999: The Senate passed the Hate Crimes Prevention Act after it was incorporated as an amendment to the Commerce, Justice and State appropriations bill.
- Spring 2001: The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act was introduced in the House and the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act was introduced in the Senate. The legislation would provide federal assistance to prosecute hate crimes.
- April/May 2003: The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act was reintroduced in the House and the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act was reintroduced in the Senate.
- May 26, 2005: The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act was reintroduced in the House and the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act was reintroduced in the Senate.
- March/April 2007: The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act was introduced in the House, and the Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act was introduced in the Senate.
- May 3, 2007: The House passed the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
- September 27, 2007: The Senate invoked cloture on the hate crimes legislation. A voice vote added the Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act as an amendment to the Department of Defense Authorization Act. It marked the first time a transgender-inclusive piece of legislation passed both chambers of Congress.
- Fall 2007: President Bush issued a veto threat for the Defense Department authorization bill if hate crimes legislation was attached, ending consideration of the hate crimes bill in the 110th Congress.
- December 6, 2007: The hate crimes amendment was stripped from the Defense Department authorization legislation.
- April 2009: The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act was reintroduced in the House, and the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act was introduced in the Senate.
- April 29, 2009: The House passed the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
- July 16, 2009: Senate cloture motion on the hate crimes bill passed. The bill was added to the Defense Department Authorization bill.
- July 23, 2009: The Senate passed the Defense Department authorization bill, on which the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act was attached as an amendment. The bill went to a conference committee to work out differences between the House and Senate versions of the legislation.
October 6, 2009: The House failed to pass a motion to instruct conferees to strip the hate crimes provision (now called the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act) from the Defense Department authorization bill conference report. - October 8, 2009: The House passed the conference report.
- October 22, 2009: The Senate voted to pass the Defense Department authorization bill that included a provision for inclusive federal hate crimes legislation.
- October 28, 2009: President Barack Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law (as a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act).
Click to learn more about Crushing the Red Flowers, an award-winning, historical novel set in 1938 Germany. The novel alternates between two twelve-year-olds, Emil, a German-Jewish boy, and Friedrich, a boy in Hitler’s Jungvolk.
ANTI-BULLYING & HATE CRIMES RESOURCES
ADL Bullying & Cyberbullying Prevention
National Crime Prevention Council: Hate Crime
NEA: Teaching Students to Prevent Bullying
PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center
Stomp Out Bullying
Stop.Bullying.gov
Stop the Hate
Teaching Tolerance