Kristallnacht: Prelude to Destruction

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Wagner (D-NY) and Representative Edith Nourse Rogers (R-MA) introduced identical bills into Congress to offer refuge to 20,000 children under 14 from the Greater German Reich.

In the immediate aftermath of the pogrom, many German leaders, like Hermann Göring, criticized the extensive material losses produced by the antisemitic riots, pointing out that if nothing were done to intervene, German insurance companies—not Jewish-owned businesses—would have to bear the costs of the damages. It discredited pro-Nazi movements in Europe and North America, leading to a sharp decline in their support. After the Kristallnacht, Salvador Allende, Gabriel González Videla, Marmaduke Grove, Florencio Durán and other members of the Congress of Chile sent a telegram to Adolf Hitler denouncing the persecution of Jews. She and her family have been honored as Righteous Gentiles for their work—and this book is their story.

An account cited that Hitler's green light for Kristallnacht was made with the belief that it would help him realize his ambition of getting rid of the Jews in Germany. Ensuing legislation barred Jews, already ineligible for employment in the public sector, from practicing most professions in the private sector. However, he also argued that the anti-Semitic laws were "necessary" to allow the Volksgemeinschaft to flourish.

American opinion toward Jews during the Nazi era: Results from quota sample polling during the 1930s and 1940s. Göring, who was in favor of expropriating the property of the Jews rather than destroying it as had happened in the pogrom, directly complained to Sicherheitspolizei Chief Heydrich immediately after the events: "I'd rather you had done in two-hundred Jews than destroy so many valuable assets! Even though many were saved, these quotas and refusals of so many countries to admit German Jews (as of 9/1/39 were enemy aliens) were responsible for the deaths of thousands.The Road to World War II" Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Western New England College.

To the consternation of the Nazis, the Kristallnacht affected public opinion counter to their desires, the peak of opposition against the Nazi racial policies was reached just then, when according to almost all accounts the vast majority of Germans rejected the violence perpetrated against the Jews.The Nazis built up to the mass round-ups, deportation, and mass murder of Jews, gay people, Roma, the disabled, and anyone who didn’t fit their ideal.