On the night of Nov. 9, 1938, flames lit up the streets of Nazi Germany and Austria. Synagogues burned. Windows shattered in Jewish homes and businesses. Mobs cheered as fire departments stood by, instructed to intervene only if the blazes threatened Aryan property. By dawn on Nov. 10, nearly 100 Jews lay dead, beaten or shot in the chaos. Another 30,000 had been rounded up and sent to concentration camps. The event, dubbed Kristallnacht for the shards of glass carpeting the sidewalks, marked a turning point. It signaled the Nazi regime’s shift from discrimination to outright violence against Jews.
Historians note that the pogrom was orchestrated by the Nazi leadership, with Joseph Goebbels playing a key role in inciting the violence following the assassination of
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