JEWS PERSECUTED DURING KRISTALLNACHT

BIJELJINA, NOVEMBER 8 /SRNA/ - On November 9, 1938, German Nazis launched a persecution of Jews during Kristallnacht, killing an undetermined number of children, women, and men, and burning hundreds of synagogues and more than 7,000 Jewish shops and homes.
That same evening, leaders of the Third Reich decided to exterminate all Jews in Germany.

The atrocity became known as "Kristallnacht" /the Night of Broken Glass/ because ordinary people, aware of the scale of the crimes, coined this euphemistic term in their conversations, fearing reprisals by the Nazi state apparatus if they called the events by their proper name.

During the pogrom, around 1,574 synagogues /almost all those in existence in Germany/ were damaged and, in many cases, destroyed, along with numerous Jewish cemeteries, more than 7,000 Jewish shops, and 29 department stores.

More than 20,000 Jews were arrested and taken to concentration camps. Some were beaten to death, while others were forced to watch.

The nature of the violence is also documented by the fact that some Germans were killed simply because someone thought they "looked Jewish."