Photographs from the Kristallnacht pogrom against German and Austrian Jews have been donated to Israel's Yad Vashem memorial.
A crowd of smiling, well-dressed middle-aged German men and women stand casually as a Nazi officer smashes a storefront window. There are piles of Jewish books in one of the pictures. There is a picture of a Nazi officer splashing gasoline on the pews of a synagogue.
The photographs were released by the World Holocaust Remembrance Center on the 84th anniversary of Kristallnacht. Mobs of Germans and Austrians destroyed 1,400 synagogues, killed 92 Jews and sent another 30,000 to concentration camps in the 20th century.
The beginning of the Holocaust is believed to have been caused by the violence.
The soviet monument was dismantled after local authorities inspected it and declared it to be in critical condition.
The photos show that the attacks were not a pogrom orchestrated by the state. The firefighters, special police officers, and members of the general public are all pictured in the Kristallnacht photo. The photographers were involved in the event.
Most of the images we have of Kristallnacht are images from outside, according to Matthews. The photos give you an intimate image of what's happening.
During the pogrom in Nuremberg and Fuerth, Nazi photographers took photos. They ended up in the possession of a Jewish American serviceman who served in Germany during World War II and never spoke about them to his family.
His descendants, who refused to give their names, donated the album to the museum as part of the effort to collect objects from survivors and their families.
The photos show how the German public was aware of what was happening and that the violence was part of a coordinated pogrom. The photographers were brought in to take pictures.
The photos will serve as witnesses for a long time after the survivors have left the area.
The AP was able to send pictures from Kristallnacht despite the fact that it was forbidden by the Nazis.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
