From Citizens to Outcasts, 1933–1938 - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

1938: Known as Kristallnacht or the "Night of Broken Glass," the Holocaust began with the widespread looting and destruction of Jewish stores and homes across Germany and Austria. | Ashley Toler

87 years ago, Jewish communities across Germany and Austria experienced the terror of Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass. During that night of November 9-10, 1938, synagogues were burned, and Jewish homes and businesses were smashed and destroyed. Nearly 100 Jewish people were killed. Worst of all, it was state-sanctioned violence. 87 years later, the Kristallnacht pogrom stands out for Jewish communities as a sign of what can come when we are silent in the face of hate and violence. Today

87 years ago on the night of November 9th, 1938, Nazi leaders across Germany unleashed the evil that is remembered as The Night of Broken Glass. Kristallnacht, the November Pogrom. During Kristallnacht, Nazis burned more than 1,400 synagogues, vandalized thousands of Jewish-owned businesses, broke into Jewish people’s apartments and homes, and desecrated Jewish religious objects. They also humiliated, assaulted, and killed Jewish people. 26,000 Jewish men were imprisoned in concentration camps j