Seventy years ago, on November 9-10, 1938, the Nazis staged state sanctioned riots against the Jewish community throughout the German Reich. These events came to be known as Kristallnacht, a reference to the untold numbers of broken windows of synagogues,

Jewish-owned stores, community centers, and homes plundered and destroyed during the pogroms. Encouraged by the Nazi regime, the rioters burned or destroyed 267 synagogues, vandalized or looted 7,500 Jewish businesses, and killed at least 91 Jewish people. They also damaged many Jewish cemeteries, hospitals, schools, and homes as police and fire brigades stood aside. Kristallnacht was a turning point in history. The pogroms marked an intensification of Nazi anti-Jewish policy that would culminate in the Holocaust-the systematic, state-sponsored murder of Jews.

Since some attacks actually occurred even after the night of Nov 9, 1938, and since the word "Kristallnacht" was a euphemism used by the Nazis, the events are today usually referred to as "November pogrom".

To learn more, visit the following pages:

> An online exhibition commemorating
the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht

> Download high-resolution
pictures from November 1938

> A historical overview of Kristallnacht

> Map showing the locations
where synagogues were destroyed

> Original documents from
November 1938

> An eyewitness account
from Kristallnacht

> Photographs and maps

> Do not stand silent:
Remembering Kristallnacht 1938

> A special website on Kristallnacht

> Biography of Herschel Grynszpan,
who assassinated the German diplomat
Ernst v. Rath in Paris on Nov 7, 1938.
The Nazi regime used this incident as
an excuse to launch the "Kristallnacht" pogrom.

> A collection of primary sources and
documents relating to Kristallnacht

> An article on the press reaction
in Germany after November 9, 1938

> The historian Stefan Kley about
Hitler´s role in the November pogrom:

> A historical article on Kristallnacht

> Read the original orders
by the German secret police
(Gestapo) from Nov. 9, 1938

> Four personal accounts of Jewish
victims, provided by the Humboldt
University Berlin, Germany.

> The University of Minnesota´s
Center for Holocaust and
Genocide Studies´ entry
on the Night of Broken Glass

> The Danish Center for Holocaust
and Genocide Studies provides
interactive teaching and
learning tools on Nov 9, 1938

> More background information
and photos on Kristallnacht,
provided by the Wiener Library
Insitute of Contemporary History

> Prior to the November pogrom,
SS groups throughout Germany
had commemorated the Munich
Beer Hall putsch from 1923.