48 Hours of Kristallnacht: Night of Destruction/Dawn of the Holocaust
The night of November 9 and 10, 1938, was the date of the infamous Kristallnacht. Lawless mobs throughout Germany and the newly acquired territories of Austria and the Sudetenland attacked Jews in the streets, in their homes, and at their places of work and worship. At least 96 Jews were killed, including 43 women and 13 children, and hundreds were injured. More than 1,300 synagogues were set on fire, almost 7,500 Jewish businesses were destroyed, and numerous cemeteries and schools were vandalized. A total of 30,000 Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Bard begins with a chapter he calls “Warning Signs,” writing that the official persecution of the Jews began in April 1933, when the Nazis initiated a boycott of Jewish businesses. Signs and graffiti warned Germans not to buy from Jews, who were barred from civil service jobs. Later they were stripped of their citizenship and not allowed to marry Aryans. Bard has written the most detailed and thoroughly researched book yet on the events of Kristallnacht. --George Cohen