Kristallnacht - source related study

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Kristallnacht Question F

Source A is a summary by a historian of Fritz Hesse's account of a dinner on the evening of 9 November. This is a secondary source as it is a summary of someone else's account. Hesse was a journalist working for the Nazi's so source A is likely to be biased. In this source Fritz claims he hears Goebells telling Hitler about "mass attack" of Jewish businesses and synagogues. Goebells is telling Hitler about kristallnacht just a few hours before it actually happened.

The content of the source suggests that Goebells planned kristallnacht, probably to get back in Hitler's favour. The source says that this news of a mass attack on the Jews went down very well with Hitler who was delighted and "slapped his thigh with enthusiasm".

So, source A clearly says that kristallnacht was not a spontaneous event by the German people, and it was in fact the Nazi's who organized kristallnacht. However, whether this source can be trusted or not is another matter. The source was written in a "blame Hitler" period in the 1950's so this could have been exaggerated to make him sound bad.

Source B is a secret report prepared by the Nazi Party Supreme Court after the events of Kristallnacht. This makes source B a primary source but it is likely to be biased because it is written by the Nazi's. Because this is a secret and internal report it therefore sets out the official party line. The content of the source suggests that it was a spontaneous action and that the Nazi's were not involved in organizing the event.

"Dr Goebells told the Party leaders at a social evening in Munich on 9 November that there had been anti-Jewish demonstrations in parts of Munich..."

Hitler's response to this is that the Nazi's should not rake part in these events because he wants to do everything legally, but he cannot help to be slightly happy because he is very anti- Jewish himself, so this is why he says this action should not be discouraged:

"...such demonstrations were not to be organized by the Party, but neither were they to be discouraged if they started spontaneously."
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As this source is a secret source, it would not be used for propaganda therefore I think it is quite reliable. So this source does agree with the statement that kristallnacht was a spontaneous event by the German people.

Source C was an account written by David Buffman who was the American consul in Leipzig. This is a primary source as he wrote the account at the time from what he himself had seen and also interviews he had carried out.

This source may be biased because he is an American and from the content of ...

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