Germany
08 November 1938
8-10 November: Organised pogroms against the German Jewish population
An assassination committed by a Polish Jew in Paris forms the pretext for long-planned pogroms across the Reich. Over three days, Jews are arrested, humiliated and beaten. Many Jewish citizens die, and synagogues and Jewish shops are burnt down throughout Germany. The riots are organised by the ‘Sturm-Abteilungen’ (storm-troopers or SA). In some places, however, non-Jewish Germans do try to help Jews. In this way, for example, a policeman prevented the destruction of the ‘New Synagogue’ in Berlin.