Persecutions of Jews in Nazi Germany: Kristallnacht

During the night of the 9-10 of November of the year 1938, a historical event occur which was called “Kristallnacht” or “The Night of Broken Glass”.

On October 27, Grynszpan's family and over 15,000 other Jews, originally from Poland, had been expelled from Germany without any warning. They were forcibly transported by train in boxcars then dumped at the Polish border.

The Nazis were looking for an excuse to take action and Adolf Hitler and Minister Joseph Goebbels, the shooting in Paris was one. They decide to rise in bloody vengeance against the Jews.

Like previous mention, Germany was looking for a way to get rid of the Jews, they wanted to get them out. Many Jews of Polish origin had come to Germany because conditions were much better there than in Poland. The Germans it will be easy to get rid of them.

Because of the murder of a German by Herschel Grynszpan,in one night, 1,350 Jewish synagogues were burnt to the ground or destroyed; over 91 Jews were killed; 30,000 Jews were thrown into concentration camps; 7,000 Jewish businesses were destroyed; and thousands of Jewish homes were ransacked.

Germany did not produce plate glass at the time, and it took Belgium’s total plate glass production about 6 months to replace all the windows that were broken. The Jews were charged 1 billion Deutsch Marks to pay for the damages.

The event is significant as it marked a major intensification of the persecution of the Jews in Nazi Germany. It was the first time that the Nazis used organized, widespread violence against Jews simply because they were Jews. It became clear that they were no longer safe in Germany. Those who were able to do so, left Germany after this.  

It is called that because of the broken glass. In English 'Kristallnacht' is often referred to as the 'Night of the Broken Glass'. (The German 'Kristall' refers to the high grade 'crystal' glass often used at the time for shop windows). 

Politics: Hitler's rise to power

After World War I and the Treaty of Versailles; Germany entered in a really bad moment in every aspect. Not only the economy, but the spirit of the people was devastated.  In 1919 Hitler joined a group called the German Workers Party. He became really influential in there and the whole German politics. Being part of this group influenced a lot on Hitler’s ideas. But he needed more than just talking; he needed acting for the change they wanted. He made gave some speeches and he called a lot of people who wanted to join him. Hitler decided to seize power constitutionally instead of using forced arms for this. Then he created a new political party, the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, the Nazis. Even this was apolitical group; he had made it a kind of military force, and had very important militarists on his side.

With this army leaders by his side, Hitler decided to take action in November 8, 1923; he and his troops surrounded a group of government officials in a beer hall in Munich. He made them swear loyalty to his revolution but this attempt to gain power failed, the officials send him to jail, where he wrote the “Mein Kampf”. After being realized he gave a speech to the German people, called them to resist the oppression of Jews and Communists and telling them to help him create an empire which could rule the world. He promised  them what they wanted and needed to hear, he promised to solve the problems of the depression; and promised each group in Germany what they needed. He promised people to make Germany proud again and restore the German honor.

In 1924 he reestablished the Nazis party according to the Führer principle. The Nazis gradually devised an electoral strategy to win northern farmers and white collar voters support them. This produced an electoral victory in September 1930.But disorder was around Germany at that time, until 1933. It was in 1923 that Hitler ran for president and won 30% of the votes, and entered in a runoff election with Paul von Hindenburg, but Hitler lost; so he decided to enter a coalition government as chancellor in January 1933. When Hindenburg died in August 1934, Hitler was the “successor”. So Hitler was elected president, and he consolidated his position as a dictator since the first moment. The German industrial machine was built up in preparation for a war, when Hitler entered to power. In November 1937, he was comfortable enough to call the military majors and outlined together some plans for a war of aggression in Europe, a way of revenge for them because of Europe has done to Germany after the First World War.

Hitler rose to power by promising great things for Germany, thinking in a utopian way and guided by rancor and anger. Even though, he rose to power in a very smart way, he knew how to get to people and how to expand his ideals, even if this ideals where wrong for the rest, he knew how to make them look just right. This rise to power is maybe one of the most important events in the world during the XX century, it marked the beginning of a new “era” and brought with it the biggest war ever.

Social: The First International Conference of Negro Workers

In July 1930, George Padmore was instrumental in organizing an international conference which launched a Comintern- backed international organization of black labor organizations called the International Trade Union Committee of Negro Workers.

The First International Conference of Negro Workers was held in Hamburg, Germany from July 7-8, 1930.  The gathering was attended by seventeen delegates and three fraternal delegates, from seven different countries and was formally called by “ The International Trade Union Committee of Negro Workers”, an offshoot of the Profintern.

The Provisional Executive Committee responsible for convening the conference was headed by James W. Ford of the National Committee of the Trade Union Unity League which included in it M. Ali, M.E Burns, Mary Burroughs, Otto Hall, Johnstone Kenyatta, Isaac Munsey, George Padmore, Lucas Prentice, Henry Rosemond and W. Thibedi.

After thinking it through the Conference elected the following to take care of the following charges: Executive Committee: Secretary : James W. Ford; Members: I. Hawkins, Garan Kouyatté, Frank Macaulay, Helen McClain, Albert Nzulu, George Padmore. E. Reid, E.F Small; Alternate: M. Kotani.

The main report was delivered to the Conference by James W. Ford, who received help from George Padmore that delivered other reports. Padmore (Economic Struggles and Tasks of the Negro Workers) , William Wilson ( The Struggle against Forced Labor and Poll Tax) and Frank Macaulay ( The War Danger and its Significance to the Negro Masses).

The gathering of all this new charges adopted a series of resolutions on black workers and the labor movement, the struggle against forced labor, in opposition to the British Labor government, on black workers and the war danger, against lynching, and in favor of international solidarity of the black working class.

All this affect and changed Negro’s way of living and how people saw them.

Politics: The League of Nations

The League of Nations was created after the World War I with the purpose of ensuring that another war doesn’t broke out again.  The only way to prevent another war of that impact was to create an international institution that could maintain peace in the world and that would take care of international issues. The League of Nations was based in Geneva, Switzerland, because it was a neutral country and other international organizations where based there too.

If a dispute occurs, the League could do three things, the league sanctions: If some countries were on a dispute, the league would call them to discuss the problem in an orderly and peaceful way in the League’s Assembly, which was the league’s parliament, the assembly would hear to disputes and would get to a decision on how to proceed. If this fails, the League could introduce economic sanctions; this would be done by the League’s Council, in order to financially hit the aggressor nation so it would do what the League told before. The idea was to led this country to a bankruptcy, just like it was done with Germany in the Treaty of Versailles, so the head of the state would be angry and force the nation to accept the League’s decision. For this to work, the League could make the countries of the League not to trade with that aggressor nation. At least if this two failed, the League could introduce physical sanctions. The League could introduce military forces in order to put into place the League’s decision.

One problem for the League was that, Woodrow Wilson, president of the United States, the one of the idea to build an international body to bring peace, won’t be part of the League, because of the Americans desire to have an isolationist policy. This was bad for the League because at the moment U.S.A was the world’s most powerful nation. Another problem was because of the Treaty of Versailles the League won’t have the support of Germany, because it was not allowed to have a country like that in the League, a similar situation happened in the case of Russia, who was also not allowed in the League because of its communist government. So, three of the world’s most powerful nations were not part of the League.

At the social level, the League had success and acceptance. The league sent teams to dig for fresh water wells in the “Third World” and started a campaign to wipe leprosy. The League worked to improve the status of women and the child slavery.

The league was really influential during it’s time. It served a lot while it could before the World War II.  We can see it all the success it had when discussion between countries happened and the success it had with people. It may have last short as a league but it was an influence to build what is now the United Nations and helped a lot to keep a little peace in the world and fought for it for the good of all.

Politics: Treaty of Versailles

After the World War I ended in 1918, a treaty was signed at the Versailles Palace near Paris. The participants in these events where The Allies; conformed by: Great Britain, France, Italy, U.S.A; and Germany.  The presidents of each of this countries were present, the most important in there were David Lloyd George, president of Great Britain; Georges Clemenceau, president of France and Woodrow Wilson, president of the United States.

This Treaty was made in order to restore order in Europe. World War I had left many dead people and a great bitterness in people. Great Britain lost 750,000 soldiers and had 1, 500,000 soldiers wounded; France lost 1,400,000 soldiers and had 2,500,000 wounded; Belgium lost 50,000 soldiers; Italy had 600,000 soldiers killed. Russia lost 1,700,000 soldiers; U.S.A had 116,000 soldiers killed; Germany lost 2,000,000 soldiers; Austria-Hungary lost 1,200,000 soldiers; Turkey had 325,000 soldiers killed and Bulgaria lost 100,000 soldiers. The total number of death people of all nations who fought this war is about an 8.5 million people and 21 million people were wounded. Many cities and houses were destroyed and people were devastated at the end of the war.

The treaty was signed on June 28^th, 1919. It consisted of different sections, esc hoe containing points of what should be done. These were: territorial, military, financial and general. The territorial section was about the territories Germany had to return or territories that Germany should give to the League of Nations. Germany had to give: Alsace- Lorraine to France; Eupen and Malmedy to Belgium; Northern Schleswig to Denmark; Hultschin to Czechoslovakia; West Prussia, Posen and Upper Silesia to Poland; The Saar Danzig and Memel were given to the league, who would also have Germany’s over sea colonies. The military section was an strategic section for reducing Germany’s army in order to prepare themselves for future wars with more people than Germany. Germany’s army was reduced to 100,000 men and the army was not allowed to use tanks, have an air force, have more than 6 capital naval ships and have submarines. The financial section was about what Germany had to pay to the other countries. It was combined to their territorial looses so it would be difficult for Germany to rebuild their economy. Germany was also forbidden to unite with Austria, to keep Germany’s economical potential at a minimum. In the General section there are three main clauses. The first one is that Germany had to admit the full responsibility for starting the war; the second one is that because Germany was guilty, it is responsible of all the damages, so Germany would have to pay the reparations, and the last one is that the League of Nations was set up to keep world peace.

Besides these terms, in which every person that belonged to the Alliance believed in; each of the presidents have different ways of thinking of what to do to Germany. David Lloyd George, wanted Germany to be punished, but not to extent that it left her destitute. Georges Clemenceau, wanted Germany should be led to never start a war again and Woodrow Wilson, wanted Germany to be punished, and thought Europe should be lead to reconciliation and not opposition. That’s why he created the 14 points.

This treaty was in a way good, but at the same no, it created resentment in the Germans and it was what at the end led to a second world war.

What was the impact of the war on women’s lives?

Did World War One actually improve women´s way of life? The war did offer women better opportunities in the labor market. Women start replacing men in the working class, between 1914 and 1918. An estimated two million women replaced men in employment. This led as a result an increase in the proportion of women in total employment from 24 per cent in July 1914 to 37 per cent in November 1918.

The war leaved valuable legacies in women. It opened up a wider range of occupations to female workers and helped the collapse of traditional women employment, particularly domestic service. For the middle classes, the decline of domestic servants was facilitated by the rise of domestic appliance, such as cockers, electric irons and  and vacuum cleaners.

The number of women in the Civil Service increased from 33,000 in 1911 to 102,000 by 1921. The advantages of  these alternative employments over domestic service were: wages were higher, better conditions, and independent enhance.

Another mayor fact that occur in the same year was that Annie McVicar became a councilor for the Wellington City Council- Wellington firts female councilor.

Trade unionism proved to be the second legacy of the war. Female worcker had been less unionism than men. This was because they tended to do part time work and to work in smaller firms. World War One forced unions to deal with the issue of women workers. The scale of women´s employment could no longer be denied and rising levels of women left unmarried or widowed by the war forced the hands of the stablished union.

The pressures of employment, combined with the need to perform housework in straitened circumstances and the inadequacy of socil services exacted a higher price.The return fulltime domestic was not, however, voluntary.

Women were also devided, with single and widowed women claiming a prior right to employment over married women.

In 1917, the government became aware of the need to call an election. The problems was that, according to the law, only men who had been resident in the country for 12 months prior to the elections were entitle to vote, affectively disenfranchising a large number of troops who had been serving overseas. This dilemma forced Parliament to revise the franchise.In 1918, the women over the age of 21 were finally alowed to vote.

Finally, the war was a key element in the grating of the franchise to women over the age of 30 years who held property in 1918.

In this way we can see how much the impact if Wolrd War One affect women´s life.

The Reich Concordat

In the year 1933 the Pope was Pius XI signed an agreement between the Vatican and the Nazi government, called the Reich Concordat (Reichskonkordat in german), which gave rights to the Catholic Church for freedom in Germany. It was signed on July 20, 1933 by Eugenio Pacelli, who was the Cardinal Secretary of State and who later became Pope Pius XII, and President Paul von Hindenburg.

Cardinal Pacelli strongly believed that the Pope had an authority that nobody could challenge, so he expected for very long to create a treaty and impose the Pope’s authority among Catholics in Germany. He wanted also to have a good relationship with that country, because it was one of the most powerful Catholic territories.

Through this Concordat, the Holy See could impose laws among the German clergy, had some benefits and privileges in German Catholic Schools, and they thought it would also help to avoid Nazi persecution to the German Catholics. And what Germany was going to receive was that the Pope was going to encourage the German clergy to take less part in the politics.

Cardinal Pacelli feared persecutions to Catholic people, not because they were not powerful, but because years before, when they had been persecuted by other organizations, they had lost under them.

Many countries criticized the Concordat, especially the ones who view Germany as a powerful danger.

The Nazis violated repeatedly the terms of the Concordat, which were 34 articles.  They violated especially the Article 31, which said that “those Catholic organizations and societies which pursue exclusively charitable, cultural or religious ends, and, as such, are placed under the ecclesiastical authorities, will be protected in their institutions and activities”. So when this happened, the Pope Pius XI wanted to protest against this, but his secretary of State was afraid of the reaction among German Catholics, so they convinced him to keep quiet.

This Concordat is very controversial, one of the most controversial ones agreed between states and the Vatican while Pius XI was the Pope.

They say that this agreement gave moral authority to the Nazi regime after Hitler had obtained dictatorial powers, having placed restriction on Catholics to response, leading them to keep quiet.

From the side of the Church, they say that this Concordat prevented bad people being set free against the Church.

The Pope wanted to keep the Concordat until the end of World War II, and it is still in discussion until these days.