November 9-10, 1938, two days that will forever be engraved in the minds of the Jewish people who experienced it: Kristallnacht. When translated it means "Night of Crystal", and is often referred to as "Night of Broken Glass". It took over six months just to replace all of the broken glass from these two days. For many Jews, this was the start of a nightmare coming alive. Days before the 9th and 10th, German authorities were expelling thousands of Jews living in Poland. This is the start of what would trigger the start of a mass murder, and lead to the death of thousands. .
Herschel Grynszpan, who at the time was a 17 year old Polish Jew, had received news that his parents were among those being expelled. He wanted revenge on the people responsible for taking his parents away from him, so he shot the diplomatic official assigned to him. This man was Ernst vom Rath, who was an embassy officer of Germany (1"Kristallnacht: A nationwide pogrom, November 9-10, 1938" page 1 of 3). He died two days after the shooting, meaning he died on the ninth of November. This day was also the anniversary of the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch. .
During the celebration of Beer Hall Putsch, the Nazi leaders gathered for discussion. Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels stated during that discussion, "The Fuhrer has decided that demonstrations should not be prepared or organized by the party, but insofar as they erupt spontaneously, they are not to be hampered." (1 of 3) That statement instigated what would come within hours to the people throughout Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. Even though everyone knew the idea to rebel towards the Jews was planted in their minds by German officials, the officials didn't see it that way. They announced after all was said and done, everything erupted as an outburst of public sentiment in response to an assassination (1 of 3), and that nothing they said had anything to do with the outburst.
