(b)
Given that these events were described at the time by a person who wasn’t a Jew or a Nazi but someone who was neutral and therefore unbiased it is, perhaps, more believable. The events described certainly point to the fact that Kristallnacht was an organised, brutal, vindictive and outrageous act against an ethnic minority by the Nazi Party. We know it was not a spontaneous act by the German people because ‘..all of the local crowds were obviously horrified by the Nazis’ acts…’; the immediate arrest and transportation of male German Jews to concentration camps was clearly an act that could only have been organised by the State/Nazi Party and not something the German people could have done spontaneously.
(c)
The events written about in Source D describe the situation before and leading up to Kristallnacht and give the impression that there had been unrest building up amongst the German people, against the Jews, for some time before…’there was unrest amongst the masses…’ & ‘Notices reading ‘Jews Not Wanted’ appeared in various shops…’ Also there is no particular mention or reference to the Nazis Party or SS men organising acts of terror. This all points to events of Kristallnacht being a spontaneous act on the night by the German people. And because the source is written by a Jew it is all the more believable.
However, source E states quite clearly that these acts of violence, house breaking and arson were carried out by SS men who were supplied with the necessary equipment and local knowledge by the Police. Thus clearly the whole operation was planned and carried out by the State. This account is all the more believable, and therefore supportive of source C because it was written by a German civil servant – somebody who was involved and would have knowledge of such plans of the State.
(d)
In my opinion the messages of the two cartoons are similar. Source F refers to Tsar Nicolas ll the head of the Russian Royal family who, faced with a disgruntled, impoverished and starving population, attempted to divert attention away from his failure to address and sort these problems out by pointing to and blaming the Russian Jews for all the troubles. Using his military might he attacked and persecuted the Jews in the hope of controlling the anger and frustration of his own people.
However, in the end, when the people realised that this was merely a smokescreen and things did not get better, they rose up and overthrew the monarchy and promptly executed all the Royal Family.
Hence the message from Tsar Nicolas ll, to the German soldier, not to make the mistake of blaming the Jews.
In source G, we see, in the background a Germany in ruins representing either the damage caused by Kristallnacht and/or the depressed state of the German economy ravaged by unemployment, hyperinflation, collapsing.
And there in the middle of all this is the Nazi standing defiantly over the body of the dead and beaten Jew and pointing his clenched fist skywards to God (?), threatening and blaming Him for what His people, the Jews, have done and what he will do to them – completely ignoring the real problems of a Germany in ruins and its people gagged and repressed by the force and brutality of the Nazi Party, as represented by the chained woman.
However the warning in the cartoon, as with Tsar Nicolas ll, is the sword and shield and helmet, which, to my mind, are symbols of the German peoples’ tradition of strength and fighting ability. They too are looking to God who, as He did in Russia against the Tsar, will give them the strength to fight back and crush the Nazis.
The message in both cartoons is that if you blame and persecute the Jews it will be at your peril.
(e)
In source H Goering is saying that Goebbles was responsible for Kristallnacht and that he acted alone. Goering says he was in charge of the economy and that he wanted a strong, rich and powerful economy. So, for this reason, why would he back Goebbles in destroying Jewish property and businesses that were an essential part of his efforts to build a stronger economy. He goes on to say that Hitler did not fully agree with Goebbles and even though he apologised for Goebbles Hitler agreed that Kristallnacht should never have been allowed to take place.
Source I appears to support this as it quotes Hitler as saying …’ I had the great hope that I was to come to an understanding with France…And then this happened’ Hitler who at this time was desperate to forge new alliances with his European neighbours and was in delicate negotiations with France was quite rightly fearful that Krystallnacht would destroy any hope of reaching an alliance with them.
Hitler may have secretly applauded this, as source A suggests when he ‘squealed with delight and slapped his thigh’, but Krystallnacht came at the wrong time. Goebbles being the elephant attacking the Jews and smashing the fragile china which is the negotiations with France.
So to a large extent source I supports Goerings’ account that this was not a coordinated event by the Nazi Party Supreme command but more the act of a maverick acting alone.
(f)
The Kristallnacht was a night of terror for Jewish people, shops were attacked and looted and windows smashed and also resulted in many Jewish men being carted off to concentration camps, certainly one of the worst nights in Jewish history.
There has been much controversy over the Kristallnacht- was it an uprising by the angry German public, or was it planned by the Nazi party?
After reading the sources it is still difficult to say which statement is correct.
Many of the sources seem to point the finger at the Nazi party for planning the Kristallnacht I say this because in source A the account is from Fritz Hesse where he heard Goebbles tell Hitler about “a mass attack which he and the S.A were going to launch against synagogues and Jewish shops in a few hours time. ” so from the information in this source it seems that the Kristallnacht was planned by Goebbles and the S.A. we can also see similar things in other sources as well. In source C it says, “The violence was carried out by SS men and storm troopers not in uniform” this indicates to us that the Nazis planned this attack and also “all of the local crowds were obviously horrified by the Nazis’ acts” tells us that the people wanted nothing to do with this and would never want to be part of it. Again in source E we see that again the “German people have nothing to do with these attacks” so again telling us it was carried out by SS men indicating that the attacks were indeed planned by the Nazi. So as we see there is much evidence that supports the fact that the Nazis’ did in fact plan the Kristallnacht.
However there are some sources that support the idea that the Kristallnacht was a vicious up rising form the German people. Source B backs this up, which decided, “there had been anti-Jewish demonstrations in Munich during which Jewish shops had been demolished and synagogues set on fire” so the Nazi party had decided that the Kristallnacht was a spontaneous attack.
I also think that source D backs it up which tells that the problems had been building up for weeks previous to Kristallnacht. And so backs up that it was spontaneous.
So after looking at all of the evidence it seems conclusive that Kristallnacht was a vicious planned attack by the Nazi party. I say this because most of the evidence I have collected has pointed to the Nazis’ and that it was all a vicious attempt for Goebbles to get back in Hitler’s good books.
