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Kristallnacht: The Unleashing of the Holocaust
Book by Read, Anthony, Fisher, David
294 pages, Paperback
First published November 2, 1989
2 people are currently reading
66 people want to read
About the author
Anthony Read
34 books28 followersAnthony "Tony" Read (born 21 April 1935) was a British script editor, television writer and author. He was principally active in British television from the 1960s to the mid-1980s, although he occasionally contributed to televised productions until 1999. Starting in the 1980s, he launched a second career as a print author, concentrating largely on World War II histories. Since 2004 he regularly wrote prose fiction, mainly in the form of a revival of his popular 1983 television show, The Baker Street Boys.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 19, 2017
This book thoroughly covers events that surrounded Kristallnacht, which I found very interesting, because most of what I have read previously was just about the events during Kristallnacht. Starting with the punishments Germany received after WWI, the threat of communism coming from the east as well as other politics of the day, readers get a sense of what was going on all over the world, not just in Germany. The political in-fighting of some in the Nazi party also was discussed in how the actions of Kristallnacht varied based on location. There was a very large backlash against Germany based on reports from foreign correspondents who were witness to the destruction, however, most countries were afraid to get involved because of the ongoing economic depression, afraid that by taking in penniless refuges, that any economic rebounds end up going to supporting the refugees. For the most part, people hoped that by appeasing Hitler's "small" actions, that there would not be another war. The book also covers in detail Herschel Grynszpan, whose assassination of vom Rath put the wheels of Kristallnacht into action. Readers learn about his life in Germany before he went to France to live with his uncle and aunt, what I perceive as laziness, as well as what happened to him after his arrest.
August 24, 2019
Most of us are familiar with the horrific deaths of millions of Jews at the hand of the Nazis. But are we as conversant with what many say was the spark that was the catalyst that started a chain reaction of rejected immigrants, stony silences, and broken promises that ultimately resulted in the imprisonment, torture, starvation, and death of millions? This book helps you understand how we got to the Holocaust. According to these authors, a single gunshot fired by a disturbed young man was all the excuse the Nazis needed to turn a November night into a night of terror throughout Germany and Austria and wherever else the Nazis extended their influence.
While it’s true that the Holocaust had its beginnings with the ascent of Hitler to power and the economic instability of 1920s Germany, it took that single gunshot fired by a troubled young man at a German embassy worker in France to start the nastiness in earnest, according to the two British historians who rote this.
Herschel Grynszpan was a lazy frustrated young man who left his German parents and moved to France with relatives. While there, he demonstrated his laziness by failing to find work, and with what money he had, he bought a gun. His intent was to kill the German ambassador to France as revenge for the miserable way the Nazis were treating his parents. Grynszpan passed the ambassador on his way into the embassy. The ambassador pretended he didn’t hear the young man ask to see him, quietly exiting the building and thereby passing the boy off to another lesser official. That lesser official was Ernst vom Rath, and he would die from Grynszpan’s bullet later that day.
Never willing to let a good crisis go to waste, Nazi officials used the diplomat’s murder as a grand excuse to strike back at all Jewry within the party’s sphere of influence. On November 9 and in the early morning hours of November 10, that’s exactly what happened.
This is a fascinating read. Nowhere does this bog down with historic names you can’t pronounce and dates that are irrelevant. Instead, you move from city to city and read in horror of the damage and deaths that occurred that night. SA and SS soldiers destroyed and looted Businesses, they disrupted families, they uprooted whole neighborhoods, and they drove men and women out of the community so that the towns could be “Jew free.”
But the book doesn’t end there. It looks at the ways in which, following the night of broken glass, German officials methodically crafted rules designed to capture Jewish assets and protect the nation’s insurance companies from paying out any damages to Jews whose possessions the Nazis had stolen or destroyed.
You’ll read about the political handwringing when the rest of the world learned of the atrocities of that night, and the jaded cynical you won’t be surprised at all by the ineffectiveness of politicians to solve the problem. You will read with sadness of people who missed opportunities to stem the tide of the Holocaust—people who had the power to make a difference. The authors point out that Pope Pius XI probably had the influence necessary to stem Hitler’s bloodthirsty tide, but his health was so poor that a planned denunciation of Hitler’s antisemitism never materialized. His assistant wrote the letter, but because of the pope’s failing health, he never saw it. His successor, according to the authors, may have had Nazi sympathies.
These small facts and stories are what make this a fascinating book. You’ll read with real sorrow about the plight of stateless Jews whom Nazis used as human footballs, kicked by the Germans to the Polish border, then beaten by the Poles and sent back to Germany. At one point in and around Vienna following Kristallnacht, Jews were taking their lives by the hundreds daily.
In short, this isn’t a light read where multi-colored butterflies will spontaneously flutter over your book player while brilliantly colored tiny birds burst into song above your head. Instead, this is an unblinking unflinching look at how a gunshot spark was the excuse a Godless tyrant needed to unfurl a pall of evil that resulted in unfathomable sorrow and millions of deaths.
While it’s true that the Holocaust had its beginnings with the ascent of Hitler to power and the economic instability of 1920s Germany, it took that single gunshot fired by a troubled young man at a German embassy worker in France to start the nastiness in earnest, according to the two British historians who rote this.
Herschel Grynszpan was a lazy frustrated young man who left his German parents and moved to France with relatives. While there, he demonstrated his laziness by failing to find work, and with what money he had, he bought a gun. His intent was to kill the German ambassador to France as revenge for the miserable way the Nazis were treating his parents. Grynszpan passed the ambassador on his way into the embassy. The ambassador pretended he didn’t hear the young man ask to see him, quietly exiting the building and thereby passing the boy off to another lesser official. That lesser official was Ernst vom Rath, and he would die from Grynszpan’s bullet later that day.
Never willing to let a good crisis go to waste, Nazi officials used the diplomat’s murder as a grand excuse to strike back at all Jewry within the party’s sphere of influence. On November 9 and in the early morning hours of November 10, that’s exactly what happened.
This is a fascinating read. Nowhere does this bog down with historic names you can’t pronounce and dates that are irrelevant. Instead, you move from city to city and read in horror of the damage and deaths that occurred that night. SA and SS soldiers destroyed and looted Businesses, they disrupted families, they uprooted whole neighborhoods, and they drove men and women out of the community so that the towns could be “Jew free.”
But the book doesn’t end there. It looks at the ways in which, following the night of broken glass, German officials methodically crafted rules designed to capture Jewish assets and protect the nation’s insurance companies from paying out any damages to Jews whose possessions the Nazis had stolen or destroyed.
You’ll read about the political handwringing when the rest of the world learned of the atrocities of that night, and the jaded cynical you won’t be surprised at all by the ineffectiveness of politicians to solve the problem. You will read with sadness of people who missed opportunities to stem the tide of the Holocaust—people who had the power to make a difference. The authors point out that Pope Pius XI probably had the influence necessary to stem Hitler’s bloodthirsty tide, but his health was so poor that a planned denunciation of Hitler’s antisemitism never materialized. His assistant wrote the letter, but because of the pope’s failing health, he never saw it. His successor, according to the authors, may have had Nazi sympathies.
These small facts and stories are what make this a fascinating book. You’ll read with real sorrow about the plight of stateless Jews whom Nazis used as human footballs, kicked by the Germans to the Polish border, then beaten by the Poles and sent back to Germany. At one point in and around Vienna following Kristallnacht, Jews were taking their lives by the hundreds daily.
In short, this isn’t a light read where multi-colored butterflies will spontaneously flutter over your book player while brilliantly colored tiny birds burst into song above your head. Instead, this is an unblinking unflinching look at how a gunshot spark was the excuse a Godless tyrant needed to unfurl a pall of evil that resulted in unfathomable sorrow and millions of deaths.
December 28, 2009
Details about this historic horror. This was the tipping point. From here on, the world understood that the Nazi's were real bad. Why did it take so long?
July 24, 2020
A very detailed and well-written account of November 9-10, 1938, The Night of Broken Glass. Roughly the first half of the book covers the assassination which the Nazis used as their excuse for the violent and bloody pogrom, the extent of the death and destruction perpetrated on the defenseless Jews, and accounts of eyewitnesses. The second half describes the aftermath, including deportations to concentration camps, the reactions of various countries, and the frustrating and useless attempts to find places for the refugees to emigrate to. This was one of the darkest days in European history and the beginning of the holocaust.
February 18, 2020
Before beginning this book, I considered my knowledge on the events of the Holocaust to be very good. This book taught me so much more. It’s a very comprehensive account of the events prior to, and preceding, Kristallnacht, which draws in the events of the war and the Holocaust where they fit. I learnt a great deal from this book and am very glad that I chose to read it.
Read
June 22, 2017World War II began long before 1939. Here is the story of Jews being banned from theaters, concert halls, motion-picture houses, and exhibitions throughout Germany. Next would be the establishment of the ghettos they were forced into and "further decisive measures to exclude Jews from German economic life and to prevent evocative activities" in the near future.
This book tells the story of the systemic extinction of a given race. An almost biological war of extermination waged against primarily one section of humanity: the Jews.
The twin monsters of Fascism and Nazism began casting their shadows across Europe as Hitler was blaming the Jews for everything bad that had occurred in Germany since 1914.
Herschel Grynszpan, the young Jewish assassin, provided the Nazis with an excuse to begin their pograms. How did a civilized nation stoop so low to inflict such unheard-of brutalities upon people who had nothing to do with the crime? This book tells that story.
Martin Luther, who has been called the father of modern Europe, was truly the father of modern Germany. Luther was not always an anti-semitic. In his pamphlet That Jesus Christ was born a Jew, published in 1523, he suggested "since the Jews had treated us heathens in so brotherly a manner, we in our turn should treat Jews in a brotherly manner, hoping we might convert some of them". His hopes for the conversion of the Jews were dashed, however, and twenty years later, bitter and angry, he turned on them with two pamphlets as savage and anti-Semitic as any passage in Mein Kampf.
Later, in his most celebrated pamphlet, Against the Jews and Their Lies, written in 1543, he wrote that "their synagogues should be set on fire and whatever does not burn up should be covered or spread with dirt so that no one may ever be able to see a cinder or stone of it"… "we must drive them out like mad dogs".
In April, 1933 the nationwide boycott of Jewish businesses, cafés, restaurants, lawyers, and doctors began. Germans were reminded not to buy from a Jew, and to break off friendships with Jews, as well as remove Jewish students from German schools and colleges. The Star of David was painted on Jewish shopfronts, along with the word Jude, (“Jew”), swastikas, and slogans such as JEWS OUT! PERISH JUDAH! GO TO PALESTINE! Books by Jewish authors, together with any books deemed “degenerate” were burned on May 10 in a massive bonfire outside the Opera house, opposite the main entrance to Berlin University. Individual beatings and brutal murders became commonplace by the end of 1933.
I had this book in my Holocaust library and decided to read it again as I am working on a documentary about my father, who survived 8 Nazi forced labor camps. This is a well researched, well written book. I learned so much so I was inspired to post a review. A must read for anyone interested in learning the back story of how the Holocaust could and did happen in a civilized nation.
This book tells the story of the systemic extinction of a given race. An almost biological war of extermination waged against primarily one section of humanity: the Jews.
The twin monsters of Fascism and Nazism began casting their shadows across Europe as Hitler was blaming the Jews for everything bad that had occurred in Germany since 1914.
Herschel Grynszpan, the young Jewish assassin, provided the Nazis with an excuse to begin their pograms. How did a civilized nation stoop so low to inflict such unheard-of brutalities upon people who had nothing to do with the crime? This book tells that story.
Martin Luther, who has been called the father of modern Europe, was truly the father of modern Germany. Luther was not always an anti-semitic. In his pamphlet That Jesus Christ was born a Jew, published in 1523, he suggested "since the Jews had treated us heathens in so brotherly a manner, we in our turn should treat Jews in a brotherly manner, hoping we might convert some of them". His hopes for the conversion of the Jews were dashed, however, and twenty years later, bitter and angry, he turned on them with two pamphlets as savage and anti-Semitic as any passage in Mein Kampf.
Later, in his most celebrated pamphlet, Against the Jews and Their Lies, written in 1543, he wrote that "their synagogues should be set on fire and whatever does not burn up should be covered or spread with dirt so that no one may ever be able to see a cinder or stone of it"… "we must drive them out like mad dogs".
In April, 1933 the nationwide boycott of Jewish businesses, cafés, restaurants, lawyers, and doctors began. Germans were reminded not to buy from a Jew, and to break off friendships with Jews, as well as remove Jewish students from German schools and colleges. The Star of David was painted on Jewish shopfronts, along with the word Jude, (“Jew”), swastikas, and slogans such as JEWS OUT! PERISH JUDAH! GO TO PALESTINE! Books by Jewish authors, together with any books deemed “degenerate” were burned on May 10 in a massive bonfire outside the Opera house, opposite the main entrance to Berlin University. Individual beatings and brutal murders became commonplace by the end of 1933.
I had this book in my Holocaust library and decided to read it again as I am working on a documentary about my father, who survived 8 Nazi forced labor camps. This is a well researched, well written book. I learned so much so I was inspired to post a review. A must read for anyone interested in learning the back story of how the Holocaust could and did happen in a civilized nation.
November 16, 2014
World War II began long before 1939. Here is the story of Jews being banned from theaters, concert halls, motion-picture houses, and exhibitions throughout Germany. Next would be the establishment of the ghettos they were forced into and "further decisive measures to exclude Jews from German economic life and to prevent evocative activities" in the near future.
This book tells the story of the systemic extinction of a given race. An almost biological war of extermination waged against primarily one section of humanity: the Jews.
The twin monsters of Fascism and Naziism began casting their shadows across Europe as Hitler was blaming the Jews for everything bad that had occurred in Germany since 1914.
Herschel Grynszpan, the young Jewish assassin, provided the Nazis with an excuse to being their excuse for pograms. How did a civilized nation stoop so low to inflict such unheard-of brutalities upon people who had nothing to do with the crime? This book tells that story.
Martin Luther, who has been called the father of modern Europe, was truly the father of modern Germany. Luther was not always an anti-semitic. In his pamphlet That Jesus Christ was born a Jew, published in 1523, he suggested "since the Jews had treated us heathens in so brotherly a manner, we in our turn should treat Jews in a brotherly manner, hoping we might convert some of them". His hopes for the conversion of the Jews were dashed, however, and twenty years later, bitter and angry, he turned on them with two pamphlets as savage and anti-Semitic as any passage in Mein Kampf.
Later, in his most celebrated pamphlet, Against the Jews and Their Lies, written in 1543, he wrote that "their synagogues should be set on fire and whatever does not burn up should be covered or spread with dirt so that no one may ever be able to see a cinder or stone of it"… "we must drive them out like mad dogs".
In April, 1933 the nationwide boycott of Jewish businesses, cafés, restaurants, lawyers, and doctors began. Germans were reminded not to buy from a Jew, and to break off friendships with Jews, as well as remove Jewish students from German schools and colleges. The Star of David was painted on Jewish shopfronts, along with the word Jude, (“Jew”), swastikas, and slogans such as JEWS OUT! PERISH JUDAH! GO TO PALESTINE! Books by Jewish authors, together with any books deemed “degenerate” were burned on May 10 in a massive bonfire outside the Opera house, opposite the main entrance to Berlin University. Individual beatings and brutal murders became commonplace by the end of 1933.
I had this book in my Holocaust library and decided to read it again as I working on a documentary about my father, who survived 8 Nazi forced labor camps. This is a well researched, well written book. I learned so much so I was inspired to post a review.
This book tells the story of the systemic extinction of a given race. An almost biological war of extermination waged against primarily one section of humanity: the Jews.
The twin monsters of Fascism and Naziism began casting their shadows across Europe as Hitler was blaming the Jews for everything bad that had occurred in Germany since 1914.
Herschel Grynszpan, the young Jewish assassin, provided the Nazis with an excuse to being their excuse for pograms. How did a civilized nation stoop so low to inflict such unheard-of brutalities upon people who had nothing to do with the crime? This book tells that story.
Martin Luther, who has been called the father of modern Europe, was truly the father of modern Germany. Luther was not always an anti-semitic. In his pamphlet That Jesus Christ was born a Jew, published in 1523, he suggested "since the Jews had treated us heathens in so brotherly a manner, we in our turn should treat Jews in a brotherly manner, hoping we might convert some of them". His hopes for the conversion of the Jews were dashed, however, and twenty years later, bitter and angry, he turned on them with two pamphlets as savage and anti-Semitic as any passage in Mein Kampf.
Later, in his most celebrated pamphlet, Against the Jews and Their Lies, written in 1543, he wrote that "their synagogues should be set on fire and whatever does not burn up should be covered or spread with dirt so that no one may ever be able to see a cinder or stone of it"… "we must drive them out like mad dogs".
In April, 1933 the nationwide boycott of Jewish businesses, cafés, restaurants, lawyers, and doctors began. Germans were reminded not to buy from a Jew, and to break off friendships with Jews, as well as remove Jewish students from German schools and colleges. The Star of David was painted on Jewish shopfronts, along with the word Jude, (“Jew”), swastikas, and slogans such as JEWS OUT! PERISH JUDAH! GO TO PALESTINE! Books by Jewish authors, together with any books deemed “degenerate” were burned on May 10 in a massive bonfire outside the Opera house, opposite the main entrance to Berlin University. Individual beatings and brutal murders became commonplace by the end of 1933.
I had this book in my Holocaust library and decided to read it again as I working on a documentary about my father, who survived 8 Nazi forced labor camps. This is a well researched, well written book. I learned so much so I was inspired to post a review.
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