Nazi. The Nazis’ are said to be cowardly for doing such a thing and some
even dressed in ordinary clothing as to not be recognised. The violence that
night was terrible and deliberate and Jewish people were the target. The SS
members who were carrying out the violence were supplied with hammers,
axes and firebombs to use against Jewish property and the firebrigade were
given strict orders to not put out fires but spray water on the German
properties around the fire. The German public in horror watched all of these
events as they began to feel sympathy toward the Jews and hatred towards
the Nazi’s. The terrible night ended with the transportation of all male German
Jews to concentration camps, this proves that the event was not spontaneous
because the transportation of the men would have needed careful planning. In
Source C, the events of Kristallnacht are depicted as horrific, evil, planned
events of violence and were planned to terrorise the Jews.
c) In Source C we are informed of an attack by SS and SA Stormtrooper
soldiers (not in uniform), who have been armed with firebombs and axes and
who attacked Jewish property. This night ended with the arrest and removal of
male German Jews to concentration camps. Source D depicts the events that
occurred previously to those on the night of Kristallnacht. It tells us that
German people were putting up signs such as ‘Jews no wanted’ in various
shops and cinemas. Acts of violence were also carried out against Jews and
forced them to go away. The Jews that stayed automatically became the
victims and the targets. This disagrees with Source C saying that the German
public did not agree with the Nazis’ acts when they were the ones who started
it by terrorising the Jews. Source E talks of the violent destruction of ‘Jewish
businesses, houses and synagogues’ and the fact that most German people
actually had nothing to do with the riots and burnings. It also points out the
fact that it was the SA who was supplied with the necessary equipment and
also a list of name and address of all Jewish shops and flats, which could
have only been supplied by the Government. Source E therefore makes it
more likely that the events in Source C happened; such as the fact that
German people were horrified and that the SA soldiers were the one’s
carrying out the acts of violence. On the other hand, Source D makes it less
likely that Source C happened because it says that the German people were
the ones who started terrorising the Jews and they were also the one who
wanted the Jews out.
d) Both sources, F and G were publishes in newspapers or magazines.
Source F was published in a Russian newspaper on the 10th November 1938
and Source G was published in a British magazine on the 30th November
1938. These sources therefore have similar publications. Source F shows
Tzar Nicholas II, who encouraged the war against the Jews but who did not
necessarily organise it. The result of his encouragement was the loss of his
life and his country getting taken over by communists. This source is the
Russian Tzar warning the German Nazi that by fighting against the Jews,
everything will go wrong. Source G shows the body representing German
Jews and the woman, who is wearing armour, bound and gagged,
representing the normal German person. Because she is gagged, it means
that normal German Jews are unable to do anything about the ill treatment of
the Jews and they have no freedom of speech. The messages of both
sources are very similar in the way that they are both warning the Nazi’s that
persecution does not work.
e) There is a time lapse of 33 years in the reporting of the conversation
featured in Source I Source I is truthful, because the conversation did take
place because of the architectural damage caused during the events of
Kristallnacht e.g. synagogues, houses and business etc. In source I, Hitler is
condemning Kristallnacht and this supports Source H because he also is said
to have condemned it here. But in Source H, Goering could be lying because
it was his life at stake and therefore would do anything to keep it. Goering
thinks that Goebbels was ruining the German economy and whoever did carry
out the attacks was ‘destroying so much Jewish property of economic value’
this means that Goering may be implying that Goebbels organised the
attacks. There is a similarity in the sources, they both condemn or disapprove
the events of Kristallnacht, but source I does not completely prove that G was
telling the truth in source H.
f) These sources retell the events leading up to and the events during the
night of Kristallnacht during 1938, after the murder of Von Roth (a German
official in Paris) by a Jew.
There is a mixture among the sources of whether the events of Kristallnacht
were spontaneous or planned. Sources B and I both state that the events of
Kristallnacht were spontaneous. From Source B, you can tell that the events
of Kristallnacht were spontaneous because it says that Dr Goebbels told the
party leaders that there had been anti-Jewish demonstrations in parts of
Munich during which Jewish shops had been demolished and synagogues set
on fire. It also states that such demonstrations were not to be organized by
the Party. Source I also supports the view that the events of Kristallnacht were
spontaneous by the report of Hitler saying ‘The people responsible have
destroyed everything for me’ this means that the Nazi’s had no idea what was
going to happen on the night of Kristallnacht. Source C also suggests the idea
that Kristallnacht was planned by the report from Nazi press calling
Kristallnacht ‘a spontaneous wave of anger’.
However it is also stated in Source C that according to a reliable source the
violence was carried out by SS men and Stormtroopers not in uniform. This
therefore means that the events of Kristallnacht were planned. The other
sources that support this are A, C, E, F, G and H. We can tell from source A
that the events of Kristallnacht were planned because it tells us that Fritz
Hesse could hear Goebbels explaining a mass attack which he and the SA
were going to launch against synagogues and Jewish shops. We can also tell
from source E that the events were planned because it states that most
German people had nothing to do with the riots and burnings and that the
police has supplied SA men with axes, tools and ladders and a list of names
and addresses of all Jewish shops and flats. This means that it must have
been planned because they would have had to prepare a list of the names
and addresses. Source F also gives us the impression that the events were
planned it shows Tzar Nicholas II warning a Nazi that attacking the Jews
doesn’t do any good and this was what they were planning to do. Likewise we
can tell from Source G that the events were planned because it shows the
figure representing the German public bound and gagged meaning that they
couldn’t of had a spontaneous outburst of anger because they had no means
to attack the Jews. The final source that tells us that Kristallnacht was planned
is source H that tells us that a lot of Jewish property of economic value was
destroyed; meaning that the attack must have been planned so they knew
was Jewish properties to attack.
In conclusion, most sources show that the events of Kristallnacht were not
spontaneous and had been planned and carried out by the SS, SA and
Stormtroopers who had been supplied with weapons of destruction such as
axes and with names and addresses of Jewish people and businesses.
