Commemorating the Nov. 1938 Pogroms, Germany faces a rise in antisemitism | DW News

On the night of November 9, 1938, Jews throughout Germany and Austria were the victims of riots: around 1,300 synagogues and 7,500 businesses were destroyed, while countless Jewish cemeteries and schools were vandalized.

The police watched as Jews were humiliated in the streets, beaten, and in at least 91 cases, murdered.

The local fire departments did not stop synagogues and Jewish businesses from burning; they merely prevented the flames from spreading to neighboring buildings.

That was only the beginning. On November 10, approximately 30,000 Jewish men were taken to the concentration camps in Dachau, Sachsenhausen and Buchenwald.

The November Pogroms of 1938 are also known as Kristallnacht, or the Night of the Broken Glass, a reference to the shattered glass of the many Jewish-owned shops destroyed by the authorities.

For more news go to

Follow DW on social media:

Für Videos in deutscher Sprache besuchen Sie

#Germany #synagogues #kristallnacht