Part of The Student Room Group

  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

What impression of kristallnacht does source C

Extracts from this document...

Introduction

Question B What impression of kristallnacht does source C give? Source C is an account by David Buffman, a member of the American embassy in Leipzig. He wrote his account at the time of kristallnacht, which was on the 10th of November 1938, from what he had seen and interviews which he carried out. From this source we get the impression that it was the Nazis who organised kristallnacht and that the SS men and stormtroopers, who were not in uniform and armed with axes hammers and fire bombs, started to attack and torch Jewish homes, shops and synagogues. As it was the Nazis who carried out the attacks, it was most likely that it would have been Hitler and his associates who plotted kristallnacht, the night of broken glass. ...read more.

Middle

Nethertheless, David Buffman was a worker for the American Embassy, and at the time they were no feuds between Germany and America, so why would he lie? This means that we have no reason to believe the evidence is untrue. David based his account on what he saw, and tells us of the violence that the Nazis used. We have to take into account that he is telling us what he saw, so he could have been biased towards the Jewish community. But yet again he had no reason to be biased towards them. You could argue that the source creates a sympathetic picture for the Jews, as they were the innocent victims. ...read more.

Conclusion

We know because he says "when viewing the ruins and the violence, all of the local crowds were horrified by the Nazis' acts". Despite their anger, the German public could do nothing because if any sympathy was shown towards the Jews by the German public, they had the problem of the Nazis, as the Nazis hated the Jews. We know this as he says "the slightest sign of sympathy for the Jews from the public caused fury amongst the Nazis" Overall the source gives us the impression that the Nazis were horrible people, and that they organised kristallnacht, the night of broken glass. I feel that the source is reliable as David had nothing to lie about, but it would have been better if he had told us the name of his reliable source so we could check on it. 1 Connor Richardson ...read more.

The above preview is unformatted text

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Germany 1918-1939 section.

Found what you're looking for?

  • Start learning 29% faster today
  • 150,000+ documents available
  • Just £6.99 a month

or


Not the one? Search for your essay title...
  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

See related essaysSee related essays

Related GCSE Germany 1918-1939 essays

  1. GCSE History Coursework: Reichstag Fire 1) ...

    Source E suggests that statement ii) is the correct statement, as it claims that Goering said that 'The only one who really knows about the Reichstag building is I, for I set fire to it'. This means that if this source is reliable, then the Nazis set fire to the

  2. What was the main cause of Kristallnacht?

    Source I blames the "people" for the event. However, it does not say which people are to blame. It could be the German public, people who are representative or in the Nazi party or another country's people. It clears the Nazi party of all blame by saying that their leader,

  1. What impression of Kristallnacht does source C give??

    Jewish houses after they heard that a German officer was killed by a Jew. David Buffman says in his last paragraph, " the most hideous part of the so-called 'spontaneous' action was the arrest and transportation to concentration camps of male German Jews."

  2. Why Did Kristallnacht Take Place? (a) A ...

    The SS man or 'brown shirt' is depicted as a murderer. Beside the tied and gagged woman lies a sword and shield on the ground. This symbolizes, along with the helpless woman, how the German people are disarmed- which makes the Nazis seem cowardly.

  1. Source Investigation: Why did Kristallnacht take place?

    She is presented as entirely innocent, in the midst of all the corruption enveloping her, and in this way, the source is depicting the Germans as being blameless in the current situation. Instead, it is shown to be the Nazis who are responsible for the destruction, as demonstrated by the Nazi in the picture with a dead body beneath him.

  2. What impression of 'Kristallnacht' does source c give? Explain your answer.

    There is no need to lie in this source, so to a certain extent it shows the truth and is reliable. It shows the build-up to 'Kristallnacht' and therefore supports source C, as both sources claim that 'Kristallnacht' was a planned event.

  1. Why did Kristallnacht take place? Source based work.

    people but that the German public was "obviously horrified" by the Nazi acts and this tells us that they would have no incline to do this themselves. Source C also tells us that the Nazis carried out the violence. Source C is a well-balanced account of Kristallnacht and in my opinion is fairly reliable.

  2. Nazi Germany: Why did Kristallnacht take place

    But he will know that Hitler is anti-Semitic. The Jews were one of the most inferior races in Hitler's eyes and therefore executions of the kind would have pleased Hitler. Also, it was the Nazis who started anti-Semitic acts against the Jews.

  • Over 160,000 pieces
    of student written work
  • Annotated by
    experienced teachers
  • Ideas and feedback to
    improve your own work