Adolf Hitler himself sent his two best doctors, personal physician Karl Brandt and surgeon Georg Magnus, to Paris to try to save vom Rath's life. Hitler promoted vom Rath, who had been a junior officer at the embassy, to the rank of Legal Consul, First Class ("Gesandtschaftsrat I. Klasse") hours before vom Rath's death on 9 November at 17:30 (5:30 p.m.). "Kristallnacht" was launched within hours.