Kristallnacht
A Nazi-organized pogrom against Jews in Germany and Austria on November 9–10, 1938, involving attacks on synagogues, homes, and businesses.
Joseph Goebbels: Nazi Germany’s propaganda minister, who urged violence against Jews after the shooting of Ernst vom Rath. His speech on November 9 helped convert Nazi policy into coordinated attacks.
November pogrom arrests: The mass detention of roughly 30,000 Jewish men in concentration camps after the November 1938 pogrom. These arrests made the violence a direct route into the concentration camp system.
Nuremberg Laws: Nazi racial laws enacted in 1935 that stripped Jews of citizenship and prohibited marriage between Jews and people classified as German-blooded. They had already made Jews targets of state discrimination before the violence of 1938.
Great Synagogue of Berlin: A major synagogue on Oranienburger Straße in Berlin, opened in 1866 and damaged during the November 1938 pogrom. Its survival from burning contrasts with the destruction of many other synagogues.
Night of Broken Glass: An English rendering of Kristallnacht, a name associated with the shattered glass left by attacks on Jewish businesses. The familiar phrase can obscure the killings, arrests, and organized nature of the violence.
Ernst vom Rath: A German diplomat in Paris, shot by Herschel Grynszpan in November 1938 and later used as a pretext for anti-Jewish violence. His death was presented as justification for the pogrom, though Nazi leaders directed the violence.
Dachau concentration camp: A Nazi concentration camp established near Munich in 1933 and used to imprison political opponents and persecuted groups. Thousands of Jewish men arrested after the pogrom were sent to Dachau.
Anschluss: Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria in March 1938, which incorporated Austria into the German Reich. The pogrom extended to Austria, where Jews had faced intense persecution since the annexation.
Old Synagogue in Essen: A synagogue in Essen, Germany, destroyed by fire during the November 1938 pogrom. Its destruction exemplifies the attacks on Jewish places of worship.
November pogrom: A historical name for the Nazi-organized anti-Jewish violence of November 9–10, 1938. This term emphasizes the event as a pogrom rather than a spontaneous outbreak.