Kristallnacht

[krees-tahl-nahkht]

noun

1. a Nazi pogrom throughout Germany and Austria on the night of November 9–10, 1938, during which Jews were killed and their property destroyed.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Kristallnacht¹

< German Kristall crystal + Nacht night

Example Sentences

The Kindertransport movement was set up to evacuate Jewish children from Germany and other European countries in the wake of Kristallnacht - a night of co-ordinated violence by the Nazis in November 1938 which resulted in the destruction of hundreds of synagogues and Jewish properties across the German Reich.

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It is also the anniversary of Kristallnacht, heralding the near destruction of European Jewry in 1938.

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The event was held days after the Alpine country marked the 87th anniversary of the anti-Jewish "Kristallnacht" pogrom.

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Kristallnacht happened two years later, inaugurating the Nazi regime’s organized persecution of Jewish people, which culminated in the Holocaust.

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It is now referred to as the November Pogrom, formerly known as Kristallnacht.

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