Kristallnacht was a spontaneous even by the German people. How far do these sources support this claim?

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Question F: Study all the sources.

“Kristallnacht was a spontaneous even by the German people.”  How far do these sources support this claim? [12]

The riots, violence, profanation, destruction and death that marked Kristallnacht throughout Nazi Germany in 1938 were no accidental act of violation, but a deliberately incited and massive, attack on the Jews of Germany, their synagogues and properties, through the arms of the Gestapo, the Police and the SD.

From Berlin across all of Germany, it marked the beginning of the end for the Jews of Germany.

I will begin studying the sources that suggest that Kristallnacht was a spontaneous event that more or less in a way say that Kristallnacht was the fault of the German people.

Source B is a secret report by the Nazi Party Supreme Court after the events of Kristallnacht. The source tells us of how the Nazi party were not to discourage demonstrations, but they were not to be organized by the party. The source does suggest that Kristallnacht was not planned by the Nazi party but a wave of violence by the German people as the Nazi party were told not to participate in the demonstrations. The source does tell us how there was mass destruction caused by the violence. This source is implying that the normal German people started the attacks. The source is laid out as though the Nazi party had nothing to do with the events.

In Source I we are told how the events of Kristallnacht ruined an understanding between Germany and France. Frau Troost had a husband and Hitler was very fond of him as he was a good architect. This source was written in 1971 many years after Kristallnacht and the Nazi regime, generating a possibility of inaccuracy in the source. In the source it says “The people responsible have destroyed everything for me” which could refer to German people destroying the possibly understanding between Germany and France.  In this source, Hitler says how terrible Kristallnacht was. He implies it wasn’t the Nazis and implicating the German people. He says how bad it was for himself because he was going to join to up with France. It may be seen as biased because Frau Troost was a great friend of Hitler and she may have been trying to protect him on the other hand, as the account was taken a long time after the actually event happened, Frau Troost would have grown elderly and might have forgotten some of the details and mixed up the truth from lies.

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Source F is one of two cartoons which I will be comparing together. Firstly, source F is the one showing Tsar Nicholas II (who was murdered by communists in 1917) warning a self indulgent Nazi officer “Attacking the Jews did not do me any good, my Fascist friend”. The message of this cartoon is that the mistreatment of the Jews can only result in negative consequences. The Nazi officer is stereotyped as being a barbaric, primitive and greedy character to generate negative feelings towards the Nazi party. The cartoon was originally published in a Russian newspaper which means that the cartoon ...

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