November 9th 1938 is widely seen as a violent turning point in Nazi Germany's assault on the Jews. An estimated 400 Jews lost their lives in the anti-Semitic pogrom and more than 30;000 were imprisoned or sent to concentration camps; where many were brutally mistreated. Thousands more fled their homelands in Germany and Austria; shocked by what they had seen; heard and experienced. What they took with them was not only the pain of saying farewell but also the memory of terrible scenes: attacks by mobs of drunken Nazis; public humiliations; burning synagogues; inhuman conditions in overcrowded prison cells and concentration camp barracks. The reactions of neighbours and passersby to these barbarities ranged from sympathy and aid to scorn; mockery; and abuse. In 1939 the Harvard sociologist Edward Hartshorne gathered eyewitness accounts of the Kristallnacht from hundreds of Jews who had fled; but Hartshorne joined the Secret Service shortly afterwards and the accounts he gathered were forgotten - until now. These eyewitness testimonies - published here for the first time; with a foreword by Saul Friedländer; the Pulitzer Prize historian and Holocaust survivor - paint a harrowing picture of everyday violence in one of Europe's darkest moments. This unique and disturbing document will be of great interest to anyone interested in modern history; Nazi Germany and the historical experience of the Jews.
#406477 in Books Pluto Press 1997-12-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.51 x .41 x 5.39l; #File Name: 0745308198152 pages
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