Question

What does the word kristallnacht mean?

Answer 1

Answer:  "Crystal Night" -- often translated as "Night of Broken Glass." (The "crystal" refers to the broken glass of windows in destroyed businesses and homes and synagogues.)

Context/details:

In November, 1938, there was rampant destruction of Jewish-owned businesses and synagogues and violence against Jewish people.  This occurred on the night of November 9 going on into November 10, 1938, and was called "Kristallnacht," or "The Night of Broken Glass."   It was public violence by masses of people, not a specific campaign ordered by the Nazi regime. However, Nazi officials did tell police and firefighters to do nothing -- to let the violence and destruction occur.  The next day, Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi minister of propaganda, said that this sort of eruption against the Jews was natural and understandable.  He said:  "It is an intolerable state of affairs that within our borders and for all these years hundreds of thousands of Jews still control whole streets of shops, populate our recreation spots and, as foreign apartment owners, pocket the money of German tenants, while their racial comrades abroad agitate for war against Germany."

In the days after Kristallnacht, the Nazi government said that the Jewish community itself was responsible for all the damage and destruction, and imposed enormous fines against the Jewish community.  They also arrested more than 30,000 Jewish men and sent them to concentration camps which were built to incarcerate Jews and any others that the Nazis perceived to be enemies of the German state.

Answer 2

Also known as The Night of the Broken Glass. On this night, November 9, 1938, almost 200 synagogues were destroyed, over 8,000 Jewish shops were sacked and looted, and tens of thousands of Jews were removed to concentration camps.