C.
Source D is an account of the events before Kristallnacht written by a German Jew and it points towards it being spontaneous because he is basically saying that the German people in general were already beginning to try and push the Jews out of society. We know this because he says, “for a few weeks there had been signs of unrest amongst the masses.” He says that, “notices reading “Jews not wanted” appeared in various shops and cinemas.” He says, “Acts of terror forced Jews to sell their belongings and move away.” This source does not make source C seem more accurate but it doesn’t necessarily make it seem untrue either because the German Jew was expecting something like Kristallnacht to happen spontaneously so that would have been the way he viewed it whereas the American man wouldn’t have thought that way and would have wanted to find out where Kristallnacht came from. Source E is written by, “A civil servant” who remains anonymous which means that he/she is probably telling the truth because they need to remain anonymous otherwise they would be in trouble. This source backs up source C and makes it seem more accurate because it agrees with the things that source C suggests, such as, “The police supplied SA men with axes, house-breaking tools and ladders. A list of the names and addresses of all Jewish shops and flats was provided.” It also says that, “most German people have nothing to do with these riots and burnings.” This makes source C more accurate.
D.
These two sources have quite similar messages. They both show Kristallnacht to have been planned, by the Nazis. Source F has a picture of a man in uniform holding some kind of dagger and a club, surrounded by destruction. Source G also shows another man in uniform standing over someone lying on the floor, also holding a club. In source G there is also the Valkyrie who represents the German people. She is gagged and tied up. She has been made to face away from the man in uniform which shows that he, being a Nazi, doesn’t want her to know what is happening. Source G comes from a British magazine so it would be against the Nazis in general. Source F is different in the way that it is more like a warning from the Russians as to what will happen next if they continue. The man in uniform is looking up at a man called Tsar Nicholas the 2nd who had encouraged attacks on the Jews previously which resulted in both himself and his family being murdered by the communists. Tsar Nicholas is saying “Attacking the Jews did not do me any good my Fascist friend.” I think that fundamentally these sources have the same message: that Kristallnacht was carried out by the Nazis. They just have different attitudes towards that and ways of showing their opinions. Source F is a warning to the Nazis whereas source G is more just showing what the Nazis have done to the German people.
E.
“Kristallnacht was a spontaneous event by the German people.” To a certain extent, some of these sources support that claim. Source A does not support the claim because Fritz Hesse says that “Goebbels was explaining about a mass attack which he and the SA were going to launch against synagogues in a few hours’ time.” It also says that, “Hitler squealed with delight and slapped his thigh with enthusiasm.” This shows Kristallnacht to have been arranged by the Nazis and not spontaneous by the German people. Source B does not say that the Nazi party organized Kristallnacht but neither does it say that they had no involvement. It says, “such demonstrations were not to be organized by the Party, but neither were they to be discouraged if they started spontaneously.” This partially agrees with the statement as it agrees that the German people began it spontaneously but not that it was only the German people involved. Source C does not really support the claim at all. It is a report which tells us some details of what the Nazis did do. It says, “The violence was carried out by SS men and Stormtroopers.” It also says, “They had been provided with hammers, axes and fire bombs.” This doesn’t support the statement as it says they were Nazis, not the German people in general. The source then goes on to say that, “the activity of the fire brigade was confirmed to spraying water on the adjoining buildings.” This shows that the Nazis knew who was Jewish and who wasn’t, who their targets were. This means they must have had time to plan and give out the information to the SS and the Stormtroopers. This shows Kristallnacht to have been planned and doesn’t support the statement either. Source D agrees with the statement. It is written by a German Jew who speaks of the, “signs of unrest among the masses” which points towards it being general German people and not the Nazis. An example he uses is, “Notices reading, “Jews not wanted” appeared in various shops and cinemas.” He also says, “Acts of terror forced Jews to sell their belongings and move away.” This is more in line with Kristallnacht and supports the statement because it shows that the general German people could have done it because they had already done other similar things. Source E does not support the statement. It is an anonymous source which means it is likely to be true, sent from “A civil servant.” It says, “Most German people have nothing to do with these riots and burnings.” It also says, “A list of names and addresses of all Jewish shops and flats was provided.” These quotes show that it wasn’t most German people that carried out the attacks and that they must have been planning it as they had all the names and addresses organised. Source F also disagrees with the statement. This is because it shows a picture of a Nazi with blood dripping from his knife to show that he was the one who had done it. However, it does not show whether Kristallnacht was spontaneous or not. Source G puts across a similar message to source F in that there is a soldier, showing the attacks to have been carried out by the Nazis. There is also the Valkyrie, representing the German people tied up. This shows that the German people don’t have any control over what is happening. This contradicts the statement. Again in this source it is not clear whether or not the attacks were spontaneous. Source H disagrees with the statement. It says, “He (Goebbels) should upset my difficult economic tasks by destroying so much Jewish property of economic value.” This is saying that Goebbels planned and carried out Kristallnacht. Source I more or less agrees with the statement because it is Hitler talking and he is saying how Kristallnacht happening has spoilt his plans. He says, “The people responsible have destroyed everything for me.” This implies that it had nothing to do with him. He also says, “I had great hope that I was about to come to an understanding with France and then this happened!” This shows that Hitler didn’t know anything about it and that it must have been spontaneous.
In conclusion, the majority of the sources do not support the statement. They say that it was the Nazis that carried out Kristallnacht and some of them say it was planned. However, there are a few exceptions like source I and source D.
