Kristallnacht

Eyewitness to World War II

by Stephanie Fitzgerald

Nearly 8,000 Jewish-owned businesses, schools, hospitals, and homes were destroyed during one night of brutality in November 1938. German Nazis and their supporters took to the streets of Germany and Austria bent on destruction. They burned hundreds of synagogues to the ground, killed more than 100 Jews, and sent 30,000 more to concentration camps. Kristallnacht, "the night of broken glass," would mark the beginning of the Holocaust.

Genres: Holocaust, History, Nonfiction

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 rating. This book was recommended by a tour guide last summer while I was taking a tour of the Dachau concentration camp outside of Munich. It is less than a 100 pages so it is a quick read if you are interested. It details the night on November 9, 1938 that the Nazi regime gave orders throughout Germany to destroy Jewish synagogues, businesses and homes by either burning them or breaking glass in their stores fronts. In addition to detailing this disgusting events, the author also provides a recap of the history of the rise of Hitler, starting with the end of WWI.

[lando :D · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good

[Xavier · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. This story is about what happened on the night of the broken glass and what the affects were afterwards. This story has lots of conflicts but the most important one of the book was how Hitler had started mercilessly destroying and capturing Jewish people and their home, jobs, schools, churches, etc... I think this is a very good book for people who like to learn about history and how things came to be. I don't think that people who like action packed or fun stories would like this book. I don't think they would like this book because the author goes on long tangents on lots of random facts about back then.

[Hunter Higashionna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This very detailed book would be great for young adults who are researching events that happened to Jewish people in Germany. The detail about this horrid event is very thoroughly researched and explained, a great book to learn about the beginning of World War II.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book.

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative read that was enjoyable but truly heartbreaking to read what those innocent people went through.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This non-fiction book would be for a higher grade's reading level because of the amount of text within it. This book is all about the Night of Broken Glass which marked the beginning of the second world war. It goes through a timeline of the events that occurred on this night along with stories of people who were there experiencing it all first-hand. It was well-written and uses many pictures and words and captions along with a glossary and index to recreate the destruction that happened on that night now known as Kristallnacht.

The book I would pair with this is Benno and the Night of Broken Glass by Meg Wiviott. This story is all about a neighborhood cat observes the changes in German and Jewish families in its town during the period leading up to Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass that becomes the true beginning of the Holocaust. This cats-eye view introduces the Holocaust to children in a gentle way that can open discussion of this period while the non-fiction book can help older students bring it to a reality.

[FG · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was not a very well put together book, as the name suggests it is about that one night where the Nazi killed lots of Jews and burned many things to the ground, but it practically describes all the things that kristallnacht lead to, and what lead to kristallnacht.

[Melissa Dwyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally rated G by

[molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, while informative, was very, very dry.

[Veda Sorrells · Rating 5 out of 5]

I usually don’t like to read Nonfiction books but this book intrigued me. Very good

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learned some new things that I hadn't heard before. Hard topic but very informative book.

[Sydney Settles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good for an end of the school year book from the school library due to being short