New photos that have never been seen before from the Kristallnacht pogrom in 1938 show Nazis violently vandalizing Jewish businesses.
The photos have been discovered in a new photo collection that was donated to Israel’s Yad Vashem memorial, according to My Twin Tiers.
The photos reveal smiling middle-aged German men and women standing by as Nazi officers destroy things like storefront windows.
Another photo shows Nazi soldiers carring piles of Jewish books.
The photographs were released on the 84th anniversary of the November pogrom.
A pogrom is defined as an organized massacre of a particular ethnic group, in particular that of Jewish people in Russia or eastern Europe.
This particular one happened in November of 1938 and is also known as Kristallnacht, which means The Night of Broken Glass.
Jewish businesses and homes were looted and destroyed by Germans and Austrians. In all 1,400 synagogues and 92 Jews were killed. Another 30,000 were sent to concentration camps during the massacre.
This event was considered the beginning of the Holocaust. The Holocaust resulted in millions of Jews being murdered at the hands of Nazi Germany.
The head of Yad Vashem’s photo archive, Jonathan Matthews, explained that these photos dismiss the Nazi myth that the attacks were spontaneous and not planned. The photos show firefighters, SS police officers, and members of the public all participating in Kristallnacht.
Most previous photos were taken outside. These are some of the first shown where the event is happening inside of businesses and homes.
These photos are most important because they help to show that Nazis were fully aware of what was going on. There is a claim that many were unaware.
FingerLakes1.com is the region’s leading all-digital news publication. The company was founded in 1998 and has been keeping residents informed for more than two decades. Have a lead? Send it to [email protected]