These 84-Year-Old Nazi Photos Paint a Harrowing Picture of Kristallnacht [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

The images show mobs ransacking Jewish-owned homes, businesses and synagogues in 1938

Sarah Kuta
Daily Correspondent

November 15, 2022



Synagogue on fire
Nazis set an estimated 1,400 synagogues on fire during Kristallnacht. Courtesy of Yad Vashem Photo Archive

On November 9 and 10, 1938, Nazis wreaked havoc on thousands of Jewish-owned businesses, homes and synagogues throughout Germany and Austria. Mobs attacked Jewish families, looted and vandalized shops and torched buildings. Some 30,000 Jewish men were rounded up and sent to concentration camps.

In the end, more than 90 Jews were killed during the pogroms, which took place nearly a year before the start of World War II and became known as Kristallnacht, or the “Night of Broken Glass.”

Last week, Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial museum, shared a series of striking photos from the attacks, bringing renewed awareness to the horrific massacre in remembrance of its 84th anniversary.

Nazi photographers captured the harrowing images during the pogroms in Nuremberg and nearby Fuerth. Some of the photos show the Nazis in the midst of their destruction—ripping couch cushions apart, violently yanking books off of shelves. Others show Jews standing in their pajamas, sometimes with blood on their clothes and bodies.

More:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/84-year-old-nazi-photos-paint-a-harrowing-picture-of-kristallnacht-180981123/