Kristallnacht

On orders from Nazi leadership, groups of Nazis carried out violent anti-Jewish riots throughout Germany and its annexed territories. Ordinary German civilians also joined in the terror. The rioters destroyed more than 1,400 synagogues and desecrated Jewish religious objects. They vandalized thousands of Jewish-owned businesses and other commercial establishments. They broke into Jewish people’s apartments and homes. They also humiliated, assaulted, and killed Jewish people.

These events became known as Kristallnacht or the "Night of Broken Glass," named for the shattered glass from store windows that littered the streets after the violence. 

As part of Kristallnacht, the German police arrested tens of thousands of Jews. They imprisoned about 26,000 Jewish men in concentration camps just because they were Jewish.

Hundreds of Jews lost their lives in the violence and its aftermath. 

Kristallnacht was an important turning point for Germany’s Jews. Afterwards, many Jews concluded that there was no future for them in Nazi Germany.