BRATTLEBORO — On Nov. 7, 1938, Herschel Grynszpan, a German-born Jew, shot Ernst von Rath, a German minister. When vom Rath died two days later, the Nazi minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, let it be known that any “spontaneous” demonstrations of German anger at the Jews would not be stopped by the government.
Leaders of the “Brown Shirts” took this to mean that it was the time to take “action” against the Jews of Germany.
During the next two days, the Jews of Germany and Austria suffered terribly at the hands of their fellow citizens: 91 Jews were killed, 267 synagogues were burned to the ground, 7,000 Jewish businesses were destroyed, and 20,000 Jews ended up in concentration camps.
Because city streets were littered with all the broken glass from storefronts, this pogrom came to be called Kristallnacht, Night of the Broken Glass.
This was literally the beginning of the end for the Jews of Germany and Austria.
But there is more to the story, which is even more tragic.
Foreign correspondents reported the rioting and looting, which reinforced and strengthened the international boycott of German goods and led to the termination of trade agreements. The destruction of goods and property had a negative impact on the German economy.
In addition to the economic disruption caused by the violence, the burned-out synagogues detracted from the orderliness and cleanliness of the German cities.
And lastly, the good German people were offended by the wanton acts of violence and the lawlessness of the mob in the streets.
To mitigate the financial burden on the German and Austrian economies, and to pay for the repairs and clean-up, the state stepped in to fine the Jewish community for creating a public nuisance. It then confiscated all insurance monies paid to Jewish businesses.
The worst result of the violence of Kristallnacht was the decision that henceforth no more street “actions” would be condoned by the state. Instead, all further reprisals would be by legal means. All further acts of violence would be coordinated by the German bureaucracy using the men of the SS and the German army.
Dr. Raul Hilberg, author of The Destruction of the European Jews, said it best: “From now on, the Jews were going to be dealt with in a 'legal' fashion - that is to say, in an orderly way that would allow for proper and thorough planning of each measure by means of memoranda, correspondence, and conferences. Henceforth the pros and cons of each measure were weighed carefully; hasty action was precluded. The bureaucracy had taken over. It is the bureaucratic destruction process that in its step-by-step manner finally led to the annihilation of five million victims.”
I had the privilege of attending Professor Hilberg's seminar on the Holocaust in the 1970s at the University of Vermont. From studying this period in history, I learned that we as citizens should be vigilant when our government is doing harm to another group of people for our security.
Violence committed by individuals against other individuals is deplorable; violence committed by a bureaucracy against “enemies of the state” has the potential to be truly devastating.