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Kristallnacht Perspective
"Among the emigrants was Zindel Grynszpan, who had been born in
western Poland when it was part of the Imperial Reich and had
moved to Hanover, where he established a small store, in 1911. On
the night of October 27 Grynszpan and his family were rousted out
of their home. Grynszpan's store and the family's possessions were
confiscated. Penniless, famished, soaked to the skin and freezing,
they were herded over the Polish border.
Zindel Grinszpan's seventeen-year-old son, Herschel, was living
with an uncle in Paris. When he received a letter from his father
containing an account of the expulsion, he decided to strike back
in order to demonstrate that `Jews are not animals.' Resolving to
assassinate the German ambassador, he went to the embassy on
November 7. When he was unable to get near his target, he settled
on a more accessible diplomat, Third Secretary Ernst vom Rath.
Rath, who, as it happened, was an anti-Nazi, was critically
wounded.
Grynszpan's action was doubly unfortunate in that it came two days
before the annual party ceremony commemorating the November 1923
putsch in Munich. Hitler was just leaving the evening festivities
in Munich on November 8 when Goebbels brought him word that Rath
had died. Grynszpan's provocation could be turned to good account,
just as van der Lubbe's firing of the Reichstag had been, Goebbels
argued. For years the party had been fighting a futile battle
against Germans shopping in Jewish stores, where prices were low
and quality better. Goebbels's perpetual propaganda that the
failure of the standard of living to improve was due to the
plotting of the international Jewish financiers was wearing thin.
Here was the opportunity to give the average Nazi a chance to vent
his spleen in a `spontaneous' outburst of indignation, to
terrorize the Jews into a mass exodus, to take the wealthy ones
hostage for ransom, and to dramatize to Jews in other countries
what would happen to their coreligionists in Germany if they did
not cease to speak out and halt their economic boycott.
Hitler, in a state of high excitement, agreed. To him, the
assassination was not the act of a desperate Jewish youth, but a
conspiracy by the `International Jews.' The victim was not a minor
foreign office official, but, symbolically, he himself. Goebbels,
returning to the party leaders who remained gathered, reported
that anti-Jewish demonstrations during which shops were demolished
and synagogues set on fire had broken out in two districts. The
Fuehrer, at his, Goebbels', suggestion, `has decided that such
demonstrations are not to be prepared or organized by the party,
but so far as they originate spontaneously, they are not to be
discouraged either.'
The Gauleiters (district chiefs), Kreisleiter (county chiefs), and
SA and SS leaders were accustomed to reading between the lines of
such declarations. If they had any doubts, they were resolved by a
teletype message sent out a few minutes before midnight by
Heinrich Müller, the head of the Gestapo, to all central police
stations.
1. Actions against the Jews and in particular against their
synagogues will occur in a short time in all of Germany. However,
it is to be made certain that plundering and similar lawbreaking
will be held to a minimum.
2. Insofar as important archive material is present in the
synagogues, it is to be secured by immediate measures.
3. The seizure of some twenty to thirty Jews in the Reich is to be
prepared. Wealthy Jews above all are to be chosen. More detailed
directives will appear in the course of this night.'
This message was followed an hour and a half later by one from
Heydrich. Heydrich directed that the police leaders were
immediately to confer with the party leaders `about the handling
of the demonstrations. Only such measures may be taken which do
not jeopardize German life or property (for instance, burning of
synagogues only if there is no danger of fires for the
neighborhood). Business establishments and homes of Jews may be
destroyed but not looted. The police have been instructed to
supervise the execution of these directives and arrest looters.
Subjects of foreign countries may not be molested even if they are
Jews ... For the performance of the measures of the Security
Police, officers of the Criminal Police as well as members of the
SD, the special troops, and the SS may be used....After the
arrests have been carried out, the appropriate concentration camp
is to be contacted immediately with a view to a quick transfer of
the Jews to the camps. Special care is to be taken that Jews
arrested on the basis of this directive will not be mistreated.'
Since these teletypes were open to considerable leeway in
interpretation, officials in various jurisdictions reacted
differently, and these differences were exacerbated as the
directives were passed on from one level to the next. The
casuistry, hypocritical criminality, and moral perversity of the
orders were typical of the Nazi regime. The Kristallnacht,* as it
came to be known, joined the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre as
an example of an aberrant government's insensate incitement of
riot against a portion of its own subjects.
* The term `Krystallnacht', coined by Funk, was a
measure of poetic license, and referred to the fact
that the shards of glass from the thousands of broken
windows glittered like crystal in the streets.
The attacks were intended to take place under the cover of
darkness; and in some places the riots got under way at two or
three o'clock in the morning. But since, in most areas, a few
hours of organization were required, people on their way to work
in the bleak hours of the dawn were greeted by the astonishing
sight of men and youths shattering the doors and windows of
synagogues, applying gasoline, then setting the structures afire _
while all the time firemen and their engines stood by to keep the
flames from spreading, and police officers were on hand to
preserve order.
The assault against Jewish stores was launched concurrently with
the firing of the synagogues _ and here confusion reigned. In some
cases merely the windows were smashed; in others the windows were
smashed, the shelves ripped off the walls, and the contents
chopped to pieces; in still others, the goods were heaved into the
streets; in a lesser number, the entire establishment was put to
the torch. To Germans starved of consumer goods and squeezed by
inflation, it seemed madness to destroy what was in short supply;
so widespread looting _ or, in many cases, simply scavenging _ set
in.
This was the visible element of the Kristallnacht, and it was met
by the average German, steeped in law, order, and the sanctity of
property, with numbness and incomprehension; the same Nazis who
had rioted against the Communists, Social Democrats, and Weimar
Republic now seemed to be rioting against themselves. (No one, of
course, was fooled by the pretense of spontaneity or
noninvolvement of the Nazi Party when the burning of the
synagogues was orchestrated in every detail, and the men leading
the rampages were the neighborhood block leaders and SA
Scharführer [sergeants]. If there was one element lacking in the
German character, it was spontaneity.)
Yet it was the invisible and theoretically unsanctioned activity
that was by far the more horrifying. Armed Nazis broke into Jewish
homes throughout the land, smashed furniture, threw belongings
into the street, looted money and valuables, and raped women and
girls as young as thirteen before the eyes of their families. Any
sign of resistance _ even a word or a gesture -was suppressed with
ruthless brutality. Women as well as men and boys were beaten,
knifed, and shot. Pets were hurled out of upper-story windows
alongside their owners. Jews were plunged into ice-cold rivers.
When they tried to claw their way out, German boys were encouraged
to throw bricks at them, onlookers were ordered to spit at them,
and party members kicked them in the face. A number of the victims
drowned. Those few Germans who dared come to the defense of the
Hews were beaten and threatened with incarceration. A few
prominent Germans who protested were arrested. Goebbels announced
that there was `a spontaneous wave of righteous indignation
throughout Germany as a result of the cowardly Jewish murder of
Third Secretary vom Rath.' Jews were imprisoned for assault when
they tried to defend themselves, and for arson when their shops
were burned down. More than one hundred Jews were killed; and
thirty thousand men between the ages of sixteen and sixty, nearly
twenty percent of the total, were picked up and packed off to
concentration camps. Goebbels, lying with inimitable crudeness and
aplomb, told foreign reporters: `Not a Jew has had a hair
disturbed.' All stories to the contrary were `stinking lies.'
It was typically Hitlerian that the Nazis acted without fully
considering the consequences; thus it was not until the day after
that the government was made startledly aware that many of the
stores, although they carried Jewish names, had previously been
purchased by Gentiles. Even more distressing, most of the Jewish
stores were located on Christian-owned property and insured by
German firms, who were now faced with staggering claims. The
amount of plate glass broken equaled half a year's production of
the entire Belgian glass industry, the only source for Germany
(which did not manufacture plate glass itself). On November 12,
Goering convoked what was, essentially, a cabinet meeting. He
himself was furious; and Hitler, whose spleen had come home to
roost, was fed up.
`The stenographic report on this meeting is an extraordinary
document,' Commander Albrecht remarked to the judges, `and it does
not make pretty reading.'
`Gentlemen! Today's meeting is of a decisive nature,' Goering
announced. `I have received a letter written on the Führer's
orders requesting that the Jewish question be now, once and for
all, coordinated and solved one way or another.'
`Since the problem is mainly an economic one, it is from the
economic angle it shall have to be tackled. Because, gentlemen, I
have had enough of these demonstrations! They don't harm the Jew
but me, who is the final authority for coordinating the German
economy.
`If today a Jewish shop is destroyed, if goods are thrown into the
street, the insurance companies will pay for the damages; and,
furthermore, consumer goods belonging to the people are destroyed.
If in the future, demonstrations which are necessary occur, then,
I pray, that they be directed so as not to hurt us.
`Because it's insane to clean out and burn a Jewish warehouse, then
have a German insurance company make good the loss. And the goods
which I need desperately, whole bales of clothing and whatnot, are
being burned. And I miss them everywhere. I may as well burn the
raw materials before they arrive.
`I should not want to leave any doubt, gentlemen, as to the aim of
today's meeting. We have not come together merely to talk again,
but to make decisions, and I implore competent agencies to take
all measures for the elimination of the Jew from the German
economy, and to submit them to me.'
The conference marked the pivotal point in the history of the
German Jews. It was more important in sealing their fate that the
Nuremberg Laws of the developments that were to follow after the
onset of the war. Having been stripped of their citizenship, they
were now to become pariahs, open to exploitation and terrorization
by every petty bureaucrat and tyrant, and totally subject to the
caprice of a government wallowing in corruption and hypocrisy.
`The Jew being ejected from the economy transfers his property to
the state,' Goering continued. `The Aryanization of all the larger
establishments, naturally, is to be my lot. The trustee of the
state shall estimate the value of the property and decide what
amount the Jew shall receive. Naturally, this amount is to be set
as low as possible. The representative of the state shall then
turn the establishment over to the Aryan proprietor.
`There the difficulties start. It is easy to understand that strong
attempts will be made to get all these stores to party members. I
have witnessed terrible things in the past; little chauffeurs of
Gauleiters have a million. You, gentlemen, know it. Is that
correct?'
A chorus of assents responded, though a few smiles were suppressed.
Goering, who had arrived broke in Berlin ten years before, was now
one of the world's plutocrats. The chief robber was decrying petty
larceny.
Goering went on: `Of course, things like that are impossible. I
shall not hesitate to act ruthlessly in any case where such a
trick is played.... We must agree on a clear action that shall be
profitable to the Reich. ... Anyway, the Jew must be evicted
pretty fast from the German economy.'
After Goering promulgated the robbery of the Jews, Goebbels took
over to institute their segregation. `In almost all German cities,
the synagogues are burned,' he announced.
`How many synagogues were actually burned?' Goering asked.
`All together there are one hundred and one synagogues destroyed by
fire,' Heydrich responded. `Seventy-six synagogues demolished. And
seventy-five hundred stores ruined in the Reich.'
`I am of the opinion that this is our chance to dissolve the
synagogues,' Goebbels spoke animatedly. `We shall build parking
lots in their places or new buildings. [Furthermore] I deem it
necessary to issue a decree forbidding Jews to enter German
theaters, movie houses, and circuses. Our theaters are
overcrowded. We have hardly any room. I am of the opinion that it
is not possible to have Jews sitting next to Germans. It is still
possible today for a Jew to share a compartment in a sleeping car
with a German. Therefore, we need a decree from the Reich Ministry
for Communications stating that separate compartments for Jews
shall be available. They shall not mix with Germans, and if there
is no more room they shall have to stand in the corridor.'
Dalüge answered with alacrity: `The order has already been given.
According to reports, one hundred and fifty were arrested by
yesterday afternoon.'
Hilgard requested that, in order to maintain the international
integrity of the German insurance industry, insurance companies
not be prevented from paying claims.
Heydrich has the answer: `The insurance may be granted, but as soon
as it is paid, it'll be confiscated. That way we'll have saved
face.'
`One moment!' Goering resumed command. `You have to pay in any case
because it is the Germans who suffered the damage. But there'll be
a lawful order forbidding you to make any direct payments to Jews.
You shall also have to make payment for the damage the Jews have
suffered, but not to the Jews, but to the minister of finance.'
`Ah ha!' Hilgard exclaimed.
`We estimate that the damage to property, to furniture, and to
consumer goods amounts to several hundred million,' Heydrich
reported.
`Most of the goods in the stores were not the property of the
owners but were kept on the books of other firms, which had
delivered them, which definitely are not all Jewish but Aryan,'
Dalüge went on.
`I wish you had killed two hundred Jews,' Goering groaned, ` and
not destroyed such valuables.'
`There were thirty-five killed.' Heydrich apologized that the
number was not greater. (The final figure, actually, turned out to
be over a hundred, and innumerable others died as a result of
maltreatment in the concentration camps.)
`Now for the damage the Jew has had.' Goering turned to the next
item. `He is the one who has to suffer the damage. As far as the
jewels may be returned again by the police, they belong to the
state.' Goering, who loved to trickle his glowing horde of gems
though his fingers, was already envisioning his share.
`I wonder to what an extent insurance companies in foreign
countries might be involved in this?' Hilgard mused.
`Well, they'll have to pay. And we'll confiscate that.' Goering had
the answer. `The Jew shall have to report the damage. He'll get
the refund from the insurance company, but the refund will be
confiscated.' Since the insurance companies would have to pay the
full damages, Goering complimented Hilgard on making a profit.
Hilgard was mystified. `The fact that we won't have to pay for all
the damages is called profit?'
`If you are compelled under the law to pay five million, and all of
a sudden there appears an angel in my somewhat corpulent form and
tells you: you may keep one million _ why cannot that be called
making a profit? I should actually split with you, or whatever you
call it.' With Goering, that was not an idle suggestion. `I can
see it, looking at you _ your whole body is
grinning! You made a big profit!' (Conot, 164-172)
Work Cited:
Conot, Robert E. JUSTICE AT NUREMBERG. New York: Harper
& Row, 1983
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