Herschel Grynszpan (1921 - ?) was a Polish-Jewish refugee born in Germany who, on his own volition, shot and killed a German diplomat in Paris in 1938. This murder prompted the Nazis to terrorize the Jewish population throughout Germany and Austria the very next day (November 8) in an event that was called Kristallnacht. This article covers the murder and the senseless horror that followed. The journalist also reported on the reactions from various capital cities.
"Jews in the west German city of Kassel awoke to the clump of Nazi boots on their stairs. Brawny young men, their Storm Trooper uniforms partly hidden by raincoats, ordered the Jews out of bed. When all were huddled in the town square, a fire hose was turned on them. Then, drenched and shivering, they were herded into and icy brewery basement while the young men in raincoats systematically wrecked every Jewish shop in Kassel and set fire to the synagogue."
"There was plenty of evidence that the Roman Catholic Church might be the next victim. In Munich the palace of Michael Cardinal von Faulhaber was stoned. Das Schwartze Korps, Storm Tropper mouthpiece which accurately forecast the Jewish confiscations weeks before they happened, suggested that the 'morally corrupt' German Catholic clergy was not fit to administer its wealth."
"Dr. Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Propaganda Minister, announced that the nation had 'followed its healthy instincts ' but 'earnestly warned' the populace to demonstrate no more... On the other hand, many Germans obviously approved of the riots."
More about the Storm Troopers can be read here...
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