Overview of the Kristallnacht

The events which happened between the 9th and 10th November are known as Kristallnacht. Kristallnacht is known more commonly as night of broken glass, which describes what happened best, with Jewish shops and synagogues all over Germany and Austria in the big cities and small towns were looted, vandalised or burnt down.
The political atmosphere of the time was heavy with Anti-Semitic views; Kristallnacht was caused by the shooting of a German diplomat called Vom Rath in Paris and mortally wounded on the day previous to Kristallnacht and finally succumbing to his wounds by the evening of the 9th November; this caused party members and active supporters to increase pressure on Jews in Germany . Although The death of Vom Rath was not caused by a German Jew, rather a Polish Jew who had been living in France for some time. The Times wrote 'The Jews in Germany and Austria were subjected yesterday, by way of reprisal for the death of Herr Vom Rath to an organized campaign of plunder, destruction, and violence.' This shows the Nazis using their usual scapegoat German and Austrian Jews being involved in the shooting and that they should pay for it even though the Jew who shot Vom Rath was polish. To further persecute German and Austrian Jews Nazi officials decreed during the pogrom that no foreign national may be attacked even if they are a Jew .
By the 11th November 1938 the world knew about what had happened in Germany and Austria. This event had been so widely covered that news correspondents from all around the world wrote extensively about Kristallnacht, 'there were several hundred foreign journalists in Germany, including those from the main international news agencies, who reported freely on what they saw and heard.' The event ha...

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...st or given a pardon for their role.
Kristallnacht showed the world that Nazis had a visceral hatred of the Jews and would do anything to annihilate them. The conclusion to be drawn from the historical context, is The Times are not supporting or agreeing with the pogrom the Nazis had organised and follow much the same viewpoint of the world; putting the Nazis in a bad light and that Kristallnacht was a horrible event which never should have happened.

Works Cited

Evans, Richard J., The Third Reich in Power (Penguin; London. 2006)
Graml, Herman, Antisemitism in the Third Reich (Blackwell; Oxford. 1992)
Gilbert, Martin, Kristallnacht: Prelude to Destruction (Harper Press; London. 2006)
Mckale, Donald, A case of Nazi "Justice": The Punishment of Party Members Involved in the Kristallnacht, 1938, Jewish Social Studies, Vol.35, No. 3/4 (Jul.-Oct. 1973), pp. 228-238