On October 28^th, 1938, thousands of Jews of Polish nationality living in Germany were arrested and deported. On November 7^th, Herschel Grynszpan, the 17-year-old son of expelled Polish Jews, shot Ernst vom Rath, the third secretary in the German Embassy in Paris. Vom Rath died two days later. This triggered the pogrom commonly known as Kristallnacht or Night of Broken Glass.

From November 9^th – 10^th, rioting masses attacked Jewish people across Germany. They targeted Jewish homes, synagogues, businesses, schools and cemeteries. Approximately 2,000 synagogues and 7,500 Jewish businesses were burned or destroyed. Nearly 30,000 Jews were arrested. Scores were injured and about one hundred were killed. The name Kristallnacht, translated as crystal night, refers to the broken glass from the windows of destroyed Jewish-owned buildings.

The Nazis falsely asserted the destruction was a spontaneous reaction to the Ernst vom Rath shooting, but the pogrom, however, was planned. It was mostly instigated by non-civilians (Nazi Party officials and members of the Sturmabteilung (SA)) and the Hitler Youth. Many historians view Kristallnacht as the pivotal incident that marked the beginning of the Holocaust.

In the aftermath, the government announced that Jewish people were to blame for Kristallnacht and levied a penalty of one billion Reichsmark, the German currency at that time, on them. Furthermore, the government seized insurance payouts to all Jews, which forced the Jewish community to pay for repairs themselves.

During 1938, quality of life for German Jews rapidly declined. Adolf Hitler, despite some criticism, had earned support from most of the German people. He had been elected as Chancellor at the peak of the German economic crisis in 1933, with unemployment reaching about 30% and by 1938, many believed he had delivered positive results. In the meantime, the Nazi government had been relentlessly churning out propaganda against the Jews. The government had begun taking away power from Jews in the mid-1930s, and by the late 1930s, there was considerable difficulty for German Jews to leave Germany.

A timeline of selected events from 1933 through 1938 is found below. The timeline provides a chronological list of events that contributed to diminished life quality or excluded Jews from German economics. Timeline sources include: The Holocaust Museum & Learning Center (located in St Louis, MO), The History Place, and FCIT’s A Teacher’s Guide to the Holocaust.

• January 30, 1933: Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany.
• February 28, 1933: Hitler was given emergency powers as a result of the Reichstag fire.
• March 24, 1933: The Enabling Act was passed by the German Parliament, giving Hitler dictatorial powers.
• April 1, 1933: Jewish shops and businesses were boycotted.
• April 7, 1933: Jews were barred from holding civil service, university, and state positions.
• April 11, 1933: A decree was issued that defined a non-Aryan as “anyone descended from non-Aryan, especially Jewish, parents or grandparents. One parent or grandparent classifies the descendant as non-Aryan…especially if one parent or grandparent is of the Jewish faith.”
• May 10, 1933: Books written by Jews, political dissidents, and others not approved by the state were destroyed in public burnings.
• July 14, 1933: East European Jewish immigrants were stripped of German citizenship.
• September, 1933: The Reich Chamber of Culture was established and excluded Jews from the Arts.
• September 29, 1933: Jews were prohibited from owning land.
• October 4, 1933: Jews were prohibited from being newspaper editors.
• 1933-1935: It was officially taught in German schools that “non-Aryans” were racially inferior. Jewish children were prohibited from participating in “Aryan” sports, clubs, and school orchestras. Many towns banned Jewish children from playgrounds, swimming pools, and parks.
• January 24, 1934: Jews were banned from the German Labor Front.
• May 17, 1934: Jews were denied national health insurance.
• July 22, 1934: Jews were prohibited from attaining legal qualifications.
• August 2, 1934: German President von Hindenburg died. Hitler became Führer.
• May 21, 1935: Jews were banned from serving in the military.
• May, 1935: “No Jews” signs were posted outside German towns, shops and restaurants.
• August 6, 1935: Jewish performers/artists were forced to join Jewish Cultural Unions.
• September 15, 1935: Nuremberg Race Laws against Jews were decreed, depriving German Jews of citizenship.
• November 15, 1935: Germany defined a “Jew” as: anyone with three Jewish grandparents; someone with two Jewish grandparents who identifies as a Jew.
• March 3, 1936: Jewish doctors were barred from practicing medicine in German institutions.
• August 1, 1936: Olympic games began in Berlin. In an effort to gain favorable public opinion from foreign visitors, actions against Jews were temporarily suspended and anti-Jewish signs were removed.
• January, 1937: Jews were banned from certain professional occupations, including accountants, dentists, and teaching Germans.
• July 2, 1937: Further restrictions were imposed on Jewish students attending non-Jewish German schools.
• November 8, 1937: The “Eternal Jew” travelling exhibition opened in Munich.
• November 16, 1937: Jews were restricted from travel outside of Germany to special cases.
• April 22, 1938: Jews were prohibited from changing the names of Jewish-owned businesses.
• April 26, 1938: Jews were forced to register wealth and property.
• June 14, 1938: Jews were forced to register their businesses.
• July, 1938: At a League of Nations conference with delegates from 32 countries, not one country agreed to accept Jews fleeing Hitler.
• July 6, 1938: Jews were prohibited from trading and providing certain specified commercial services.
• July 23, 1938: Jews were forced to apply for identity cards from the police.
• July 25, 1938: Jewish doctors were prohibited from practicing medicine.
• August 1, 1938: The Office of Jewish Emigration was established in Vienna to increase the pace of forced emigration.
• August 11, 1938: The synagogue in Nuremberg was destroyed by the Nazis.
• August 17, 1938: Jewish women were required to add Sarah and Jewish men were required to add Israel to their names on all legal documents.
• September 27, 1938: Jews were prohibited from all legal practices.
• October 5, 1938: Jewish passports were required to be stamped with a large red “J.”
• October 28, 1938: 17,000 Jews of Polish nationality living in Germany were arrested and expelled to Poland. Poland refused them entry, which left them in “No-Man’s Land” near the border.
• November 7, 1938: Ernst vom Rath, third secretary in the German Embassy in Paris, was shot by Herschel Grynszpan, the 17-year-old son of deported Polish Jews. He died two days later.
• November 9-10, 1938: Kristallnacht, commonly referred to as The Night of Broken Glass, was triggered by the Ernst vom Rath shooting.
• November 12, 1938: Jews were charged one billion marks for damages related to Kristallnacht.
• November 15, 1938: All remaining Jewish pupils were expelled from non-Jewish German schools.
• December 2-3, 1938: Jews were banned from public streets on certain days and prohibited from having drivers licenses and car registrations.
• December 3, 1938: Jews were forced to relinquish businesses, real estate, securities, and jewelry to the government at artificially low prices.
• December 8, 1938: Jews were no longer permitted to attend universities.