By
– August 25, 2011
So much has been written about the Night of Broken Glass; is there anything new to add to what is already known? The most important new element of Alan Steinweis’ short book, Kristallnacht 1938, is that it focuses not so much on the victims of the paroxysm of anti-Semitic brutality on the eve of the Holocaust but on those responsible for the violence. These, Steinweis writes, were not just the Nazi leadership but large numbers of ordinary Germans rioting in the streets and looting Jewish property on a gigantic scale.
Steinweis analyzes newly released internal memos and court documents from the trials of the pogrom’s perpetrators, enabling us to better understand the day that set the stage for the murder of the Jews of Europe.
Steinweis analyzes newly released internal memos and court documents from the trials of the pogrom’s perpetrators, enabling us to better understand the day that set the stage for the murder of the Jews of Europe.
Micah D. Halpern is a columnist and a social and political commentator. He is the author of What You Need To Know About: Terror, and maintains The Micah Report at www.micahhalpern.com.
