Kristallnacht was the real beginning of the suffering of those of the Jewish faith. Things weren’t as bad before Kristallnacht but slowly and surely things got worse. Here is the true tale.

Before Kristallnacht happened, the Jewish children were forbidden to go to school. German Jews had their citizenship revoked and thus they could no longer vote. They also had to wear yellow stars to show that they were Jewish.

Kristallnacht means "The Night of Broken Glass," but it was also a night of broken hearts. On November 9, 1938 in Germany and Austria, over 90 Jews were murdered and 76 temples were destroyed. Not only that, but the Nazi forces set fire to 191 synagogues. The Nazis arrested 30,000 Jews and took them to concentration camps and jewish ghettoes.

After Kristallnacht, Germans became even more brutal. In the late 1941, Germany wiped out entire Jewish communities, and over a million Jewish people were killed. In Warsaw, Poland the ghetto served as a death bed to 20% of the Jews in the ghetto. Luckily, some people offered support. In Holland, many citizens were anti-Nazi, they helped hide the Jews in the best way they could. Many Jews were sent on secret boats to Switzerland by Holland citizens because German forces didn’t occupy that land.

Now, we are one, no matter our religion. Kristallnacht will never be forgotten but as the years go by, the pain has slowly eased.

For more information:
http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/h-knacht.htm
http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/triumph/tr-boycott.htm

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