9-Nov-1938: Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass)

The term "Kristallnacht" ('Night of Broken Glass") refers to the organized anti-Jewish riots in Germany and Austria, November 9 10, 1938. These riots marked a major transition in Nazi policy, and were, in-many ways, a harbinger of the "Final Solution."

Nazi antisemitic policy began with the systematic legal, economic, and social disenfranchisement of the Jews. This was accomplished in various stages (e.g. The Nuremberg Laws of 1935, which, among other things, stripped German Jews of their citizenship.) One of these steps involved the deportation of Polish Jews who were residing in Germany (est. 56,500). On the night of October 27, 1938, 18,000 Polish Jews were deported, but were initially refused entry into Poland by the Polish authorities. Caught in between, the Jews were forced to camp out in makeshift shelters. Upon hearing that his family was so trapped, 17 year-old Herschel Grynszpan, a student in Paris, shot the third secretary of the German Embassy, Ernst vom Rath, whom he mistook for the ambassador. This assassination served as a welcome pretext for the German initiation of Kristallnacht.

Reinhard Heydrich (the head of the Reich Main Security Office which oversaw the Gestapo, police and SD operations) sent a secret telegram at 1:20 A.M., November 10, 1938 to "all head quarters and stations of the State Police; all districts and sub-districts of the SD" He gave instructions for the immediate coordination of police and political activities in inciting the riots throughout Germany and Austria. "...The demonstrations are not to be prevented by the police," he ordered, rather, the police are "...only to supervise the observance of the guidelines."

The result of this policy was the first violent pogrom (riot) on Western European soil in hundreds of years. 36 Jews were killed (some authorities have this figure as high as 91); 30,000 more were deported to concentration camps; 267 synagogues were burned and over 7,000 Jewish shops, businesses and homes were vandalized and ransacked.

Immediately after Kristallnacht, a fine of one billion marks was levied, not upon the criminals, but upon the victims, the Jewish community of Germany. Along with the fine came a decision, taken in a conference of Nazi leaders on November 12, 1938, to "Aryanize the German economy, to get the Jew out...." Nazi policy had now moved into the overt destruction of all Jewish life in the Third Reich.

The violence of Kristallnacht aroused the world to condemn the Nazi actions. President Franklin D. Roosevelt recalled the American ambassador from Berlin stating that he, "could scarcely believe that such things could occur in a twentieth century civilization." However, even the condemnations failed to change western immigration policies. With a few exceptions (e.g. En gland, which increased its absorption of refugees after Kristallnacht), the doors to safety remained barred. As one leader of German Jewry stated two months after Kristallnacht (January 25, 1939), "From America, nothing tangible (in immigration possibilities) has arrived." With violent antisemitism now institutionalized, and with few places to flee, the Jews of Germany, Austria, and later, occupied Europe, were trapped and doomed.

Kristallnacht serves as the symbol of that destruction. The synagogues and Torah scrolls that were burned and desecrated, signified, as Rabbi Leo Baeck had earlier realized, that "the thousand-year history of the Jews in Germanv had come to an end." It is that noble history and glorious legacy of German Jewry that we remember on Kristallnacht, a legacy of religious scholarship, intellectual creativity and scientific achievement. Nobel Prize winners and rabbinic scholars, businessmen and soldiers, government ministers and social activists all had their worlds shattered, along with the thousands of windows that gave Kristallnacht its name.

There are important lessons to be drawn from Kristallnacht, for it served as a bridge experience for both Jews and Nazis. For the Jews, there was the terrifying realization that political antisemitism can lead to violence, even in Western Civilization. It also demonstrated that apathy can still pervade the world when the lives of Jews or other minorities are threatened.

For the Nazis, Kristallnacht taught that while the world might condemn their pogroms, it would not actively oppose them. World opinion, however, taught the Nazis the value of secrecy in the perpetration of future actions against Jews. Added to the complaints of Germans offended by the random violence of Kristallnacht, the stage was set for the "Final Solution"--the organized, bureaucratically efficient genocide of 6,000,000 men, women, and children.

In retrospect, Kristallnacht was more than the shattering of windows and illusions. It portended the physical destruction of European Jewry. As such, this commemoration must be observed both as a memorial and as a warning.

The elite jewish community in Germany looked away because it was the trades people whose shops were stormed. It was the lower classes who were being rounded up.

I'd like to see your source for this.

My grandfather, who owned a cigar trading company, was a very wealthy man. Yet his flat was invaded on Kristallnacht by the jackbooted thugs and he was ripped from his home in front of his two young sons.

Wealthy Jews were no longer allowed the same rights as poorer Jews. There was no class distinction among the Nazis. A Jew was a Jew.

My grandfather was one of the ones who didn't get his family out fast enough because he simply COULD NOT BELIEVE that what people were predicting could actually happen. He felt that he was as much a German as we all feel we are American. He was a decorated war veteran as well. None of his contributions to Germany counted for a whit.

Now about that dream...

It was very jumbled, but the overall theme was that of escape. In one beach scene, several people and I were watching an incoming wave. It was a small wave, moving slowly, but we were warned that when it came ashore, it would bring the sea level to the top of the 30 ft cliffs, which were very close to the shore.

So, when some of us saw the wave, we knew immediately to climb up the rocks to get to the top of the cliff. Others didn't bother. After all, it was moving slowly and was very small. All persons knew of the warning. My coffee cup was only a few feet from me, sitting on a large rock. Although it's a nice coffee cup and it was easy enough to grab, I never considered retrieving it. I chose to utilize that time by climbing up the cliff.

I watched the coffee cup disappear under the water. The ocean level rose as it met the cliff, steadily rising to the top. Later in the dream I was back at that place, after the waters receeded, but the coffee cup was gone. :-(

After escaping this wave, my husband and I were in a situation, were we had to leave town to avoid some unknown danger. Now there was something wrong with the car's license plates: the tags had expired. We would surely be stopped. We remembered that we had previous license plates from another country, and the dates on those hadn't expired, so we were hurriedly looking in a box for them. I could not find them. I was sure I had not thrown them out, because if for no other reason, I would have saved them as souveniers. Well, they weren't there. Plans delayed.

The next situation we found ourselves in, was in the company of military brass (a man and a woman). The woman was an attractive admiral or general in her 40's, with almost shoulder length blonde hair, which was very straight. It was a very casual setting (accidental, not a planned event) and they were listening to ideas from "the little people". Where to move people, what to do with bases, and so on.

Then later, in another scene, I was shopping at a sewing and crafts store (I promise this will all tie in together). I have no idea why I needed these things, but I decided to purchase some ribbon. It was horribly expensive. It was loosely wrapped on a piece of cardboard about 5 inches long, premeasured with the length, price per *meter*, and total price listed on the sticker. It was a confusing jumble of numbers, but were roughly in terms of 5's and 10's.

I had two different cardboard cards of ribbons, one white and one black. Each had some extra embellishment on them, small multicolored beads and/or colorful embroidery, and were about an inch wide. The stickers on them were confusing, but each were around ten meters give or take, at a cost of $5+ per meter. Therefore, one cost over 50 dollars, and the other over 60 dollars. The black was the cheaper one. I remember because I had collected the white one first, and had it in my bag and was comparing prices.

The total, therefore, was over *110* dollars. I remarked to the clerk, that I had not bought any craft items in a long time, and it's just as well that they were so expensive (the idea being that I'd simply have a room full of this stuff and wouldn't use it). I specifically stated to her that if the prices were half of what they were, customers would by 4x the amount.

Anyway, I purchased the ribbon and left.

Now in this shopping area (a small street), I saw children running, trying to escape from something. I knew that they were trying to escape Nazis and a holocaust. Therefore, I needed to help them escape. My vehicle was not a good choice, as those tags had expired and I'd get pulled over.

Another person and I concocted a scheme. I would drive to the gate of the military base, in order to cause a scene. The expired tags would be noticed, and I could argue with the security guard and use those tags as a diversion. The goal was to get the children onto the US military facility, where they would be safe and protected.

This is what I did. While I fussed and made a scene, distracting the guard, the other person sped up to the gate in an oversized van full of the children. The van sped by without the guard noticing. We didn't care what kind of trouble we would get in for the stunt, we just knew that it was imperative to get those children onto the base.

I am not sure if the dream ended there, or switched back to the beach location (post storm surge), where I had lost the coffee cup. That scene may have come beforehand.

Usually these types of dreams are not in so many pieces, but this one was different, having many peculiar details.

After rereading, I realized that the ribbon explanation was confusing. The cards were regular cardboard color. The ribbon colors were black and white.

I don't remember what the military people were saying, but it seems that whatever they said or how they behaved, was the reason we decided to bring the children to the base. I don't know if this base was in the US. The beach was similar to here:

http://www.rotacrony.com/Rota.htm

(Playa Rompidillo)

The perspective of the Playa Rompidillo photos is looking away from the cliffs and toward the water or town, so not ideal. However, when thinking about the location, I had remembered that this are was rather garbagey, whereas the place in the dream was clean. Then I saw this on the photo page above:

"New beautiful beach in Rota, in years past this beach was known as "Garbage Beach."

I did not know the name of this beach but it looks from these photo perspectives to be the same place I remember from years ago.

The name appears to be a form of the verb romper + the diminutive illo.

romper
I verbo transitivo
1 to break
(un cristal, una pieza de loza) to smash, shatter
(una tela, un papel) to tear (up): rompió el contrato en pedazos, he tore the contract into pieces
2 (relaciones, una negociación) to break off
3 (una norma) to fail to fulfil, break
(una promesa, un trato) to break
4 (el ritmo, sueño, silencio) to break

II verbo intransitivo
1 (empezar el día, etc) to break: al cabo de un rato rompió a hablar, after a while she started talking
rompió a llorar, he burst into tears
2 (poner un fin) to break [con, with]: he roto con el pasado, I've broken with the past
(relaciones de pareja) rompieron hace una semana, they broke up a week ago ; Ver nota en break

And of course, nearby is the Rota Naval Station, "gateway to the Med".

Hmmm...

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