Books About Kristallnacht

Kristallnacht–literally “Crystal Night”–refers to the destruction of Jewish businesses, homes, and synagogues across Germany and Austria on November 9-10 1938. These books shed light on both its causes and effects.

Steinweis’ research draws upon evidence gathered during postwar trials of perpetrators to show how mob action by ordinary citizens was an essential motivating factor, along with antisemitism.

Martin Gilbert’s The Night of Broken Glass

One night alone, Nazi mobs destroyed over one thousand shuls and ransacked thousands of Jewish homes, stores, and places of worship in Germany – inflicting mass casualty upon those remaining without denial – before arresting and sending thousands to early concentration camps. It was an astonishing display of bloodlust and burning that convinced Jews who still hadn’t given in that emigrating was their only option while teaching the Nazis that even the world at large would not do anything to stop their rampage.

Gilbert is a historian renowned for his penetrating intellect and compelling writing style, having made an eight-volume Winston Churchill biography a bestseller. Now, using personal correspondence from eyewitnesses as well as newspaper and diplomatic reports from Kristallnacht on November 9, 1938, in Germany as evidence, Gilbert investigates this infamous pogrom that served as a watershed moment both for Jews and Nazis alike; its shocking violence rattled Jewish community members while showing that even civilized society could turn violent when faced with evil forces; it also showed how human compassion could fall short when faced with evil forces.

This book draws its primary source material from an extensive collection of letters, memoirs, and interviews conducted with survivors over many years by its author in preparation for this work. He also draws upon scholarship by other scholars such as Uta Gerhardt and Thomas Karlauf who edited a book of accounts by German Jewish victims who experienced Kristallnacht.

Gilbert provides a thorough and detailed account, emphasizing both global apathy and individual courage in his account of Kristallnacht events that contributed to Hitler’s “Final Solution” for European Jews, leading directly to their murder; serving as an important reminder about hatred, fighting back and standing up for one’s beliefs – this book should be required reading for everyone and especially students of history interested in Holocaust topics; teachers may wish to make use of this work within their curriculums.

Alan Steinweis’s The Night of Broken Glass: An Eyewitness Account

In November 1938, Hitler’s Nazi regime unleashed an unprecedented wave of anti-Jewish hatred and violence upon Jewish residents of Germany known as Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass), in which synagogues and businesses owned by Jews were burned, looted, looted again, attacked with bombs or attacked physically; hundreds were either murdered, committed suicide or imprisoned into concentration camps during this night of terror; this book provides eyewitness accounts of what transpired on that fateful night.

This book draws upon interviews conducted by Harvard sociologist Edward Hartshorne, who collected eyewitness testimonies from many who survived Kristallnacht in 1939 and were otherwise forgotten until now. These testimonies reveal an eyewitness perspective of daily violence during one of Europe’s darkest periods in history.

These testimonies provide crucial context for understanding the nuances of antisemitic attacks on November 9-10 1938 that were orchestrated and carried out by Nazi authorities, and demonstrate that it wasn’t simply a one-off event but part of an ongoing campaign of violence directed against Jewish communities throughout Europe.

Steinweis, a historian and Miller Distinguished Professor of Holocaust Studies at the University of Vermont offers a new interpretation of Kristallnacht history. He draws connections between policies and events not previously covered extensively – showing how on-the-spot theft of Jewish property combined with racism as motivations behind attacks against them.

Steinweis’s book provides an indispensable resource for anyone interested in understanding the Holocaust and its effects on modern society.

This book draws its title from the broken glass that littered streets after windows of Jewish-owned buildings and synagogues were broken on November 9-10, 1938, leading to anti-Jewish violence across Germany now commonly known as Kristallnacht (“Crystal Night”). This book offers numerous eyewitness accounts of violence and destruction on that night.

Bard’s The Night of Broken Glass: A Children’s Story

Mitchell Bard’s (Will Israel Survive?) powerful oral history draws upon survivor accounts gathered by the Jewish Virtual Library and published by USC Shoah Foundation, detailing how Nazi mobs destroyed Jewish property throughout Germany and Sudetenland on November 9-10 1938. While initially, the outbreak may have seemed a spontaneous outburst of popular anger, Bard makes clear that destruction was planned and orchestrated by top Nazi leaders before any physical attacks against Jewish property.

This book opens with the flames being lit on a textile store display window in Munich shortly before midnight, followed within minutes by reports of a fire at a synagogue. By night’s end, some 200 synagogues had been burned to the ground while thousands of houses of prayer and other buildings belonging to Jews had been vandalized or ransacked – an unprecedented disaster that brought together local and global violence against Jewish institutions and businesses alike.

Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels and SS Chief Heinrich Muller organized this genocidal plot under their orders. After Reich Minister Ernst vom Rath was assassinated, Goebbels told his gang it was time for revenge; the Gestapo sent out a telegram to police forces indicating no protection would be afforded to Jews while fire companies received instructions not to intervene when synagogues in flames were burning unless their flames threatened nearby “Aryan” properties.

Due to appeasement and the indifference of most governments towards the Third Reich’s horrors, many Germans and Austrians did not try to stop attacks by resisting or speaking out against its activities.

Although often misnamed “pogrom,” Kristallnacht should not be described using this word; rather it should be understood as an anti-Semitic massacre that happened much more widely and directly than what has come to be known as Kristallnacht. Misusing this term obscures what happened and trivializes their experiences at the hands of Nazi dictatorship.

This book serves as an important reminder of what can happen when hatred and prejudice are allowed to flourish freely in society, hopefully motivating readers to work against any future genocides that might take place.

The New York Times Book Review

The New York Times Book Review is one of America’s premier literary magazines, shaping literary taste, informing arguments, and driving the world of ideas since its inaugural issue was published on Oct 10, 1896. This exciting book edited by current deputy editors Jordan and Qasim brings together reviews, letters, interviews, essays announcements book lists gossip (such as Colette wearing sandals without stockings on board ship!) op-ed pieces published from 1896 to commemorate their 125th Anniversary as part of a supplement published since their founding as well as pieces published since 1896 to commemorate their 125th Anniversary celebration.

Every American reader should read this book. Its analysis of how The New York Times Book Review has shaped American literary culture over a century offers invaluable lessons for reviewing and critics alike.

It will challenge and expand readers’ thinking in numerous ways. For instance, this book makes clear that while in theory, the Times editorial board claims to be open to all sorts of books, in practice its politically correct liberalism without class analysis filters out incorrect political opinions while elevating conventional works – this explains why innovative fiction and poetry or nonfiction outside domestic realism never make their way into Book Review pages.

Michel Martin: Additionally, reviewers represent an extremely limited pool: they’re almost exclusively white men (87 percent male), with 95 percent of political book authors reviewed by The Times Book Review being white – creating an enormous problem that only gets worse over time.

But The New York Times Book Review overlooks more than political titles; many important literary novels written by authors who are either lesser-known or have yet to write another work do not receive a proper review either. This represents a serious problem that should be rectified by reviewing outlets such as The New York Times.