History Sourcework: Question B
What impression of Kristallnact does Source C give? Explain your answer
Source C was written by David Buffman, the American consul based in Leipzig. The account he gives derives from what he saw himself and from interviews that he carried out. As an American diplomat he represented America and all its values- democracy, freedom of speech etc. He would have been posted to Germany for probably the last 3-4 years meaning that he witnessed the build up of anti-Semitism and the anti-Semitic laws passed in Germany. In this time he would have met a lot of the Germans in the Diplomat service and gained insight into the German government and its propaganda machine, finding things that were not published into the censored newspapers that the government controlled. The fact that he was a first hand witness makes his statements more reliable, as he was based in Leipzig I presume that he witnessed the nation-wide rioting on the 10th November and not the original Munich riots on the 9th. The notes he took from the witnesses he questioned may or may not have been complexly accurate but as he was a diplomat to whom note taking was a common job, I believe that his notes may have been on the whole very accurate.