Kristallnacht

On orders from Nazi leadership, groups of Nazis carry out violent anti-Jewish riots throughout Germany and its annexed territories. Ordinary German civilians also join in the terror. The rioters destroy more than 1,400 synagogues and desecrate Jewish religious objects. They vandalize thousands of Jewish-owned businesses and other commercial establishments. They break into Jewish people’s apartments and homes. They also humiliate, assault, and kill 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 arrest tens of thousands of Jews. They imprison 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.