1 00:00:01,120 --> 00:00:04,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:13,760 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:17,200 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Frying. I know 4 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:19,680 Speaker 1: I've said this a number of times lately. It is 5 00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:23,160 Speaker 1: a byproduct of working on a daily podcast, but today's 6 00:00:23,400 --> 00:00:25,560 Speaker 1: episode has been on my list of two dues for 7 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:28,080 Speaker 1: a really long time, and we're coming up on its 8 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:30,960 Speaker 1: eightieth anniversary, which moved it up to the top of 9 00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:34,479 Speaker 1: the list. Crystal Knock, or the Night of the Broken Glass, 10 00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:37,640 Speaker 1: took place on November ninth and tenth of nineteen thirty eight, 11 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:40,280 Speaker 1: and we've mentioned it in some previous episodes about the 12 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 1: Holocaust and about World War Two, and it has also 13 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:46,159 Speaker 1: come up as a listener request. This was a massive 14 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:49,239 Speaker 1: act of anti Semitic violence, and it was named for 15 00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:52,200 Speaker 1: the shards of glass that were left littering the streets 16 00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:54,160 Speaker 1: and more than a thousand cities and towns and the 17 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:59,480 Speaker 1: German reich Nazis burned hundreds of synagogues, vandalized and looted 18 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:03,280 Speaker 1: thousands of homes and businesses, raped and murdered people, and 19 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:06,480 Speaker 1: made about thirty thousand arrests, mostly of Jewish men. And 20 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:09,960 Speaker 1: those men were then sent the concentration camps. I don't 21 00:01:09,959 --> 00:01:12,160 Speaker 1: think I've ever given a warning the strong on the 22 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:14,440 Speaker 1: show before, but this is just not an episode for 23 00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:17,000 Speaker 1: young children. We're going to be discussing everything that I 24 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 1: just said in a lot more detail, and then in 25 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:22,520 Speaker 1: the third part of this episode, after the second ad break, 26 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:25,840 Speaker 1: we are going to be discussing a rape investigation that 27 00:01:25,959 --> 00:01:29,200 Speaker 1: had horrifying elements on his own. I did want to 28 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:32,040 Speaker 1: make one note on language before we start. Over the years, 29 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:34,520 Speaker 1: we've gotten a couple of notes from listeners who've told 30 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:37,080 Speaker 1: us that they don't prefer the use of the word 31 00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:40,160 Speaker 1: Jew because it's of its history as an anti Semitic slur. 32 00:01:40,680 --> 00:01:43,480 Speaker 1: But then we've also heard from other listeners that avoiding 33 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:45,760 Speaker 1: the word j you has its own baggage because it 34 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:48,160 Speaker 1: suggests that there's something wrong with being Jewish or that 35 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:51,160 Speaker 1: we're uncomfortable with it. Plus, it means that adherence to 36 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:54,160 Speaker 1: all the other religions can be referenced with nouns like 37 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 1: Christians and Muslims and Steaks and Buddhists, and Jews are 38 00:01:57,360 --> 00:01:59,560 Speaker 1: the only ones that are only allowed the adjective of 39 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:02,800 Speaker 1: jew Ish. So these listeners have encouraged us to use 40 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:05,120 Speaker 1: the word too. It is really not possible for us 41 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:08,079 Speaker 1: to reconcile these two points of view, but I didn't 42 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:11,080 Speaker 1: want to acknowledge that that's a discussion that happens before 43 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:13,760 Speaker 1: we get into this episode. And if folks are wondering 44 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:16,880 Speaker 1: about the timing of this episode given the shooting at 45 00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:20,640 Speaker 1: the Tree of Life Synagogue on October, we scheduled this 46 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:23,520 Speaker 1: episode to come out today back in August, and it 47 00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:26,240 Speaker 1: was researched and written before the shooting happened, but it 48 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 1: is being recorded in the shootings immediate aftermath. So to 49 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:34,480 Speaker 1: get into the background. We talked a lot about Adolf 50 00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:37,320 Speaker 1: hitler'sh rise to power in our previous episode on the 51 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:39,480 Speaker 1: Night of the Long Knives, so we are not going 52 00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 1: to repeat all of that today, But briefly, in ninety three, 53 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:47,960 Speaker 1: Germany's President Paul von Hindenberg named Hitler as Chancellor, hoping 54 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:50,480 Speaker 1: to appease the Nazi Party as it gained power in 55 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:53,880 Speaker 1: the reichs Dog that's the German Parliament. UH. And then 56 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:57,520 Speaker 1: when Paul von Hindenbergh died in nineteen thirty four, Hitler 57 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:01,120 Speaker 1: became president as well as Chancellor, making him the fewer 58 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:04,520 Speaker 1: or supreme ruler of Germany, and a big part of 59 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:08,360 Speaker 1: his platform, which was also a big reason for his popularity, 60 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:12,760 Speaker 1: was his vocal, vehement anti Semitism. Jews had been living 61 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:15,440 Speaker 1: in what's now Germany for more than a thousand years, 62 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:18,800 Speaker 1: and of course anti Semitism existed long before Hitler came 63 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:22,480 Speaker 1: to power, but it was really after nineteen thirty three 64 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:25,920 Speaker 1: that Germany started implementing a whole new wave of laws 65 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,080 Speaker 1: that specifically targeted the Jewish population. As part of a 66 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:33,880 Speaker 1: process of arianization. The Nazi Party called for a boycott 67 00:03:33,919 --> 00:03:37,520 Speaker 1: of Jewish businesses, and by nineteen thirty five, non Jewish 68 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:40,560 Speaker 1: businesses were announcing that Jews were no longer welcomed there 69 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:45,200 Speaker 1: as customers. Jews were also barred from holding civil service jobs, 70 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:47,440 Speaker 1: and anyone who was already in a position like that 71 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:51,240 Speaker 1: was fired. Then the Reich's dog passed the Nuremberg Laws 72 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:55,640 Speaker 1: on September fift nineteen thirty five. These included the Law 73 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:59,080 Speaker 1: for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor and 74 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:02,840 Speaker 1: the Reich Citi and Ship Law. These laws outlined German 75 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:05,600 Speaker 1: racial policy, and they were rooted in the idea that 76 00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:09,920 Speaker 1: Jews and Germans were different, that Jewish blood was inferior 77 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:13,720 Speaker 1: to quote true German or Aryan blood, and that it 78 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:17,359 Speaker 1: was necessary to ban contact between Jews and Germans for 79 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:20,880 Speaker 1: the sake of racial purity. On top of preserving the 80 00:04:20,960 --> 00:04:23,640 Speaker 1: idea of this so called racial purity, these laws were 81 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:26,760 Speaker 1: also meant to ostracized Jews and to speed up the 82 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:30,360 Speaker 1: process of forcing them out of German society. Hitler and 83 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:33,880 Speaker 1: the Nazi Party wanted to make Germany udn rhyme or 84 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:38,800 Speaker 1: cleansed of Jews. Although legislators had already started doing research 85 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:42,359 Speaker 1: and drafting language for these laws, the final legislation was 86 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:45,560 Speaker 1: written over the span of just two days, and this 87 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:48,359 Speaker 1: was because Hitler ordered for them to be finalized on 88 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:51,880 Speaker 1: September so that he could present them at an annual 89 00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:55,839 Speaker 1: rally in Nuremberg on the fifteen. The Nuremberg Laws banned 90 00:04:55,920 --> 00:04:59,320 Speaker 1: Jews from holding German citizenship. This stripped them of the 91 00:04:59,440 --> 00:05:02,599 Speaker 1: rights and actions that German citizens were entitled to under 92 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:05,560 Speaker 1: the law, and then it also excluded them from voting 93 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:09,560 Speaker 1: and from holding public office. Both sex and marriage between 94 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:13,240 Speaker 1: Jews and non Jews were outlawed. Jews were also banned 95 00:05:13,279 --> 00:05:16,080 Speaker 1: from employing German women under the age of forty five 96 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:20,039 Speaker 1: as maids. The laws didn't define who was and wasn't 97 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:23,719 Speaker 1: considered Jewish when it came to marriage, so the Reich 98 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:27,760 Speaker 1: Ministry of the Interior issued a supplemental document outlining different 99 00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:32,320 Speaker 1: rules for people whose ancestry was half or quarter Jewish. 100 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:36,760 Speaker 1: It detailed which populations were allowed to intermarry given how 101 00:05:36,839 --> 00:05:41,080 Speaker 1: much Jewish ancestry they had. Persecution of Jews in the Reich, 102 00:05:41,160 --> 00:05:44,080 Speaker 1: which had been going on through this whole time, continued 103 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:47,320 Speaker 1: to escalate after the passage of the Nuremberg Laws, and 104 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:48,960 Speaker 1: a lot of people who had the means to do 105 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:52,760 Speaker 1: so left the country. In March of nineteen thirty eight, 106 00:05:52,839 --> 00:05:56,360 Speaker 1: Germany annexed Austria, which put about a hundred and eighty 107 00:05:56,360 --> 00:06:00,080 Speaker 1: five thousand Austrian Jews under German rule and subject the 108 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:04,920 Speaker 1: Nuremberg Laws. Then, on April eleventh, eight the government further 109 00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:09,040 Speaker 1: tightened their definition of who was and wasn't Jewish. So 110 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:12,640 Speaker 1: called non arians were defined as anyone who was descended 111 00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:16,760 Speaker 1: from non Aryan parents or grandparents. People were required to 112 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:20,719 Speaker 1: prove their ancestry through birth certificates and family records. Before 113 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:24,400 Speaker 1: Germany annexed Austria, about a quarter of the nation's Jewish 114 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:28,240 Speaker 1: population had fled, which had created a refugee crisis in 115 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:32,719 Speaker 1: other nations. Most nations had immigration quotas in place, and 116 00:06:32,760 --> 00:06:36,160 Speaker 1: in many cases those quotas had already been reached even 117 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:41,159 Speaker 1: before Germany annexed Austria. So after the annexation, other nations 118 00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:44,640 Speaker 1: were really anxious about the possibility of so many more 119 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:49,520 Speaker 1: Jewish refugees. So in July a conference was held in 120 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:52,640 Speaker 1: evy On, France to try to seek an international solution 121 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:57,360 Speaker 1: to this problem, but the conference was completely unsuccessful. Although 122 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:01,320 Speaker 1: most of the delegates expressed sympathy for German and Austrian Jews, 123 00:07:01,400 --> 00:07:04,280 Speaker 1: none of them offered to actually do anything about it. 124 00:07:04,839 --> 00:07:07,560 Speaker 1: The Dominican Republic was the only nation that offered to 125 00:07:07,640 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 1: relax its immigration policies to allow more refugees, and Hungary 126 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:14,520 Speaker 1: and Poland were both more interested in finding a way 127 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:18,160 Speaker 1: to remove their own Jewish populations than in bringing in 128 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:23,840 Speaker 1: Jewish refugees. Although there were some individual diplomats and philanthropists 129 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:26,960 Speaker 1: and religious and humanitarian organizations who were trying to help, 130 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:31,040 Speaker 1: at the national level, virtually no one was willing. After 131 00:07:31,080 --> 00:07:34,960 Speaker 1: the Avian conference, the Polish government issued a decree that 132 00:07:35,080 --> 00:07:37,120 Speaker 1: any polls who had been out of the country for 133 00:07:37,240 --> 00:07:41,040 Speaker 1: more than five years would have their passports revoked unless 134 00:07:41,080 --> 00:07:44,200 Speaker 1: they got a stamp from a Polish official before October 135 00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:49,760 Speaker 1: one night, and this prompted Germany to expel its population 136 00:07:49,800 --> 00:07:54,160 Speaker 1: of Polish Jews back to Poland. Hitler ordered this expulsion 137 00:07:54,560 --> 00:08:00,360 Speaker 1: with forced evictions on October. Those expelled were allowed to 138 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:04,360 Speaker 1: take only one suitcase each, and their belongings left behind 139 00:08:04,520 --> 00:08:07,960 Speaker 1: were confiscated by the government and in some cases stolen 140 00:08:08,040 --> 00:08:13,080 Speaker 1: by neighbors. Between twelve thousand and seventeen thousand Jews who 141 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:16,080 Speaker 1: had been born in Poland were ordered to leave German 142 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:19,440 Speaker 1: territory during this expulsion, but once they got to the border, 143 00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:23,080 Speaker 1: most of them weren't allowed to cross into Poland. Many 144 00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:25,920 Speaker 1: of them wound up at a makeshift refugee camp near 145 00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:29,680 Speaker 1: Spaljean on the Polish border. Because they had been allowed 146 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:32,600 Speaker 1: to take only one suitcase each, the people trapped at 147 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:36,400 Speaker 1: the border had virtually no food or supplies. They also 148 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:39,320 Speaker 1: weren't permitted to take valuables or large amounts of money 149 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:42,080 Speaker 1: out of Germany, so those who had brought money with 150 00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:46,760 Speaker 1: them had it confiscated. Conditions were appalling and members of 151 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:50,360 Speaker 1: the shoot staffle or SS harassed and beat many of 152 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:53,600 Speaker 1: the people who were being forced to relocate. There were 153 00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:56,480 Speaker 1: reports of suicides as a result of all of this. 154 00:08:57,080 --> 00:08:59,560 Speaker 1: Included among the people trapped at the border was the 155 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:04,360 Speaker 1: family of seventeen year old Herschel Grinspun. The family were Polish, 156 00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:06,920 Speaker 1: but they've been living in Germany since the early nineteen teens, 157 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:09,960 Speaker 1: while the rest of the family had been living in Hanover. 158 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:13,280 Speaker 1: Herschel had fled in nineteen thirty six, first to Belgium 159 00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:16,600 Speaker 1: and then to France. On November three, he got a 160 00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:20,360 Speaker 1: postcard from his sister Berta, describing how she and their 161 00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:22,800 Speaker 1: parents had been forced out of their home and were 162 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:26,680 Speaker 1: now trapped at the border with virtually nothing. Her postcard 163 00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:29,959 Speaker 1: was brief, but the next day Herschel also read a 164 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:33,360 Speaker 1: thorough account in a Jewish newspaper that described the conditions 165 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:37,079 Speaker 1: along the border as horrific. Harschel was already desperate when 166 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:40,920 Speaker 1: he got this postcard from his sister. After leaving Germany, 167 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:43,720 Speaker 1: he had crossed the border from Belgium into France illegally. 168 00:09:44,240 --> 00:09:47,960 Speaker 1: His repeated attempts to formally seek asylum in France had 169 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:51,480 Speaker 1: all been turned down, and in July eight he had 170 00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:54,480 Speaker 1: been ordered to leave the country, but he had nowhere 171 00:09:54,480 --> 00:09:58,600 Speaker 1: else to go. His own Polish passport had expired, so 172 00:09:58,720 --> 00:10:01,679 Speaker 1: for about three months before getting the snews from his sister, 173 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:04,600 Speaker 1: he had been in hiding, sheltered in a maid's quarters 174 00:10:04,600 --> 00:10:07,200 Speaker 1: in an attic and going out only at night. On 175 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:10,000 Speaker 1: the morning of November seven, he wrote a postcard to 176 00:10:10,080 --> 00:10:13,760 Speaker 1: his father and placed it in his wallet. Written in Hebrew, 177 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:17,600 Speaker 1: it said, with God's help, I couldn't do otherwise. My 178 00:10:17,679 --> 00:10:20,160 Speaker 1: heart bleeds when I think of our tragedy and that 179 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:23,520 Speaker 1: of the twelve thousand Jews. I have to protest in 180 00:10:23,559 --> 00:10:26,640 Speaker 1: a way that the whole world. Here's my protest, and 181 00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:30,839 Speaker 1: this I intend to do. I beg your forgiveness. Then 182 00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:33,800 Speaker 1: he bought a gun and five bullets. He went to 183 00:10:33,800 --> 00:10:36,439 Speaker 1: the German embassy in Paris and was admitted into the 184 00:10:36,440 --> 00:10:39,200 Speaker 1: building after saying he had an important document to deliver. 185 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:43,240 Speaker 1: His plan had been to assassinate the German ambassador, but 186 00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:46,199 Speaker 1: instead he was directed to the office of Third Secretary 187 00:10:46,360 --> 00:10:50,199 Speaker 1: Ernst von Rat. Herschel fired all five of his bullets, 188 00:10:50,280 --> 00:10:54,200 Speaker 1: hitting the secretary twice. Vom Rat initially survived and was 189 00:10:54,240 --> 00:10:57,040 Speaker 1: taken for medical care, and Herschel was taking into custody 190 00:10:57,080 --> 00:10:59,920 Speaker 1: by French authorities, and he went with them willingly, where 191 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:04,679 Speaker 1: taliation against the Jewish community began immediately, with Jewish newspapers 192 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:08,560 Speaker 1: and other publications being shut down on November eight and 193 00:11:08,640 --> 00:11:12,640 Speaker 1: Jewish cultural activities being suspended. On the same day, the 194 00:11:12,679 --> 00:11:16,840 Speaker 1: announcement came that Jewish children could no longer attend Aryan schools. 195 00:11:17,360 --> 00:11:20,760 Speaker 1: The shooting was also used as the justification for Crystal Knox, 196 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:29,600 Speaker 1: which we will talk about after a quick sponsor break. 197 00:11:30,640 --> 00:11:33,319 Speaker 1: The shooting of Ernst von Rapt took place the day 198 00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:36,760 Speaker 1: before the fifteenth anniversary of the Beer Hall Pushed that 199 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:39,839 Speaker 1: was a failed attempt to start a violent insurrection against 200 00:11:39,880 --> 00:11:43,920 Speaker 1: the German government that took place in ninete. The primary 201 00:11:44,040 --> 00:11:47,440 Speaker 1: instigators of the Beer Hall Pushed were Adolf Hitler and 202 00:11:47,559 --> 00:11:51,720 Speaker 1: Eric Ludendorff. Both men were arrested and tried, and Ludendorff 203 00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:54,440 Speaker 1: was acquitted, but Hitler was convicted and he spent nine 204 00:11:54,440 --> 00:11:57,160 Speaker 1: months in prison, during which time he wrote most of 205 00:11:57,240 --> 00:12:01,319 Speaker 1: Mind comp Because of the anniversary, Nazi Party leaders were 206 00:12:01,360 --> 00:12:04,959 Speaker 1: gathered in Munich. Most of them saw an editorial in 207 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:08,640 Speaker 1: the Nazi Party's newspaper that described herschel Grin spawn as 208 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:13,120 Speaker 1: quote a criminal tool of international Jewish murderers, And on 209 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:15,560 Speaker 1: the afternoon of the ninth they also got word that 210 00:12:15,679 --> 00:12:19,120 Speaker 1: vom Ratt had died of his injuries. This was not 211 00:12:19,200 --> 00:12:21,400 Speaker 1: the first time that a Jewish person had killed a 212 00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:25,520 Speaker 1: Nazi official. In nineteen thirty six, a Jewish student named 213 00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:29,760 Speaker 1: David Frankfurter assassinated Vilhelm gustlaffen Davos, who was the leader 214 00:12:29,760 --> 00:12:33,640 Speaker 1: of the Nazi Party in Switzerland. But that time Hitler 215 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:37,480 Speaker 1: had forbidden any kind of retaliation for the assassination that 216 00:12:37,559 --> 00:12:39,920 Speaker 1: had happened during the lead up to the nineteen thirty 217 00:12:39,960 --> 00:12:44,040 Speaker 1: six Berlin Olympics, which were facing ongoing protests and threats 218 00:12:44,040 --> 00:12:46,720 Speaker 1: of boycott's and demands for the games to be canceled 219 00:12:46,760 --> 00:12:49,679 Speaker 1: or moved somewhere else, so Hitler didn't want to give 220 00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:54,280 Speaker 1: that movement anymore fuel. But things were different in ninety eight. 221 00:12:54,679 --> 00:12:57,880 Speaker 1: The Olympic Games were long over and the Nazi government 222 00:12:57,920 --> 00:13:01,680 Speaker 1: was increasingly direct in its anti is Semitism, so the 223 00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:05,559 Speaker 1: assassination of Ernst von Rat became the justification for mass 224 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:10,199 Speaker 1: violence sanctioned by Adolf Hitler and coordinated by Nazi officials. 225 00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:14,960 Speaker 1: We should stress Herschel Grinchbahn's killing of Ernst bomb Rat 226 00:13:14,960 --> 00:13:18,480 Speaker 1: did not cause crystal knot that simply gave the Nazi 227 00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:22,360 Speaker 1: government a convenient rationale to carry it out. Reinhardt Heidrich, 228 00:13:22,559 --> 00:13:26,400 Speaker 1: chief Lieutenant of the s S, called for demonstrations against 229 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:30,480 Speaker 1: the Jewish population on November nine at the commemoration of 230 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:33,160 Speaker 1: the Beer Hall push. On the ninth, Reich Minister of 231 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:37,280 Speaker 1: Propaganda Paul Joseph Grebbel's carefully planted the idea of a 232 00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:42,240 Speaker 1: purportedly spontaneous uprising. He framed it this way, quote, the 233 00:13:42,320 --> 00:13:46,280 Speaker 1: fere has decided that demonstrations should not be prepared or 234 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:50,400 Speaker 1: organized by the party, but insofar as they erupt spontaneously, 235 00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:54,000 Speaker 1: they are not to be hampered. Just before midnight on 236 00:13:54,040 --> 00:13:58,320 Speaker 1: the ninth, Gestapo chief Heinrich Mueller sent this telegram quote, 237 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:02,440 Speaker 1: in shortest order, actions against Jews and especially their synagogues 238 00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:05,199 Speaker 1: will take place in all of Germany. These are not 239 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:09,959 Speaker 1: to be interfered with. So this idea that purportedly spontaneous 240 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:14,320 Speaker 1: demonstrations might just happen and that officials shouldn't interfere with 241 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:19,160 Speaker 1: them if they did happen, was totally fabricated. Nazi officials 242 00:14:19,160 --> 00:14:22,360 Speaker 1: were directly involved in planning this and carrying it out. 243 00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:26,200 Speaker 1: Party leaders called or went back to their local offices 244 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:30,400 Speaker 1: that night, and they called for this demonstration. Although civilians 245 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:33,600 Speaker 1: were involved, including a large number of schoolboys, the s 246 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:36,440 Speaker 1: S and the Essay, which was also known as the Stormtroopers, 247 00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:40,520 Speaker 1: were major instigators. So were the Gestapo and the Hitler youth. 248 00:14:41,200 --> 00:14:43,800 Speaker 1: Although some people remained in their uniforms, a lot of 249 00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:47,600 Speaker 1: them changed into civilian clothes to reinforce this idea that 250 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:51,200 Speaker 1: this was a spontaneous civilian uprising that was just being 251 00:14:51,280 --> 00:14:55,160 Speaker 1: carried out by local residents, not a coordinated attack by 252 00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:59,520 Speaker 1: the Nazi government. The violence started in Germany, then spread 253 00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:03,240 Speaker 1: into Austria as well as Sudetenland, which Germany had recently 254 00:15:03,280 --> 00:15:07,280 Speaker 1: annexed from the Austro Hungarian Empire. There were attacks in 255 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:10,200 Speaker 1: parts of East Prussia near the Reich border as well. 256 00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:15,239 Speaker 1: Instructions were to destroy Jewish property while leaving everything else untouched. 257 00:15:15,920 --> 00:15:19,960 Speaker 1: Synagogues were to be destroyed, with their archives confiscated beforehand. 258 00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:23,040 Speaker 1: As many young, healthy Jewish Men as possible were to 259 00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:26,840 Speaker 1: be arrested, as long as they weren't foreigners. Foreigners weren't 260 00:15:26,840 --> 00:15:29,240 Speaker 1: supposed to be harmed, even if they were Jewish, to 261 00:15:29,360 --> 00:15:33,920 Speaker 1: avoid prompting a response from their home country. Any fires 262 00:15:33,920 --> 00:15:37,320 Speaker 1: that started were supposed to be allowed to burn unless 263 00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:40,920 Speaker 1: they threatened to spread to buildings that weren't owned by Jews. 264 00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:44,840 Speaker 1: At about one twenty a m. On the tenth, Reinhard 265 00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:49,040 Speaker 1: Hydrich sent telegrams forbidding looting, but by that point looting 266 00:15:49,080 --> 00:15:53,080 Speaker 1: was well underway and his direction was mostly ignored. Most 267 00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:55,440 Speaker 1: of the violence took place on November ninth and tenth. 268 00:15:55,960 --> 00:15:58,760 Speaker 1: Gebels called for an end to the violence on the tenth, 269 00:15:59,120 --> 00:16:03,120 Speaker 1: although there were attered incidents after that. During that time, 270 00:16:03,280 --> 00:16:06,240 Speaker 1: more than a thousand synagogues were damaged and at least 271 00:16:06,280 --> 00:16:10,280 Speaker 1: two hundred sixty seven were completely destroyed. More than seven 272 00:16:10,280 --> 00:16:13,600 Speaker 1: thousand Jewish businesses and homes were vandalized, and many of 273 00:16:13,600 --> 00:16:17,880 Speaker 1: them were also looted. Jewish cemeteries were desecrated. At least 274 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:22,400 Speaker 1: ninety one Jews were killed, and an unknown number were humiliated, beaten, 275 00:16:22,760 --> 00:16:27,200 Speaker 1: sexually assaulted, and raped. Thirty people, most of them young 276 00:16:27,280 --> 00:16:31,120 Speaker 1: Jewish men, were arrested and deported to concentration camps, including 277 00:16:31,200 --> 00:16:36,240 Speaker 1: Dakau Buchenwald, and Sachsenhausen. This represented about a third of 278 00:16:36,280 --> 00:16:39,280 Speaker 1: the Jewish Men still in Germany. Most of them were 279 00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:42,760 Speaker 1: held for about three months, but ultimately released only if 280 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:47,080 Speaker 1: they agreed to leave Germany immediately. Although support for this 281 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:51,680 Speaker 1: program wasn't universal among the government, it was overwhelming. A 282 00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:54,800 Speaker 1: very few officials returned to their local offices and either 283 00:16:54,840 --> 00:16:59,320 Speaker 1: refused to participate or issued counter orders. In a few towns, 284 00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:03,040 Speaker 1: parish easts and mayors managed to mostly prevent the violence, 285 00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:06,680 Speaker 1: but aside from these isolated exceptions, every Jewish community in 286 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:10,160 Speaker 1: the Reich was affected. The public response of Nazi Party 287 00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:14,040 Speaker 1: leadership after Crystal Knock was shocked. After all, this was 288 00:17:14,119 --> 00:17:19,160 Speaker 1: a supposedly spontaneous wave of righteous indignation. At the same time, 289 00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:23,120 Speaker 1: they didn't present this as a problem. Hitler and Gubbles 290 00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:26,320 Speaker 1: held a press conference on November eleven, and Gebbs told 291 00:17:26,320 --> 00:17:29,480 Speaker 1: reporters quote, it is an intolerable state of affairs that 292 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:32,320 Speaker 1: within our borders and for all these years, hundreds of 293 00:17:32,359 --> 00:17:37,200 Speaker 1: thousands of Jews still control whole streets of shops, populate 294 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:41,600 Speaker 1: our recreation spots, and as foreign apartment owners pocket the 295 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:45,960 Speaker 1: money of German tenants while their racial comrades abroad agitate 296 00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:50,080 Speaker 1: for war against Germany and gunned down German officials. Up 297 00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:54,120 Speaker 1: till this point, the Nazi policy of arianization was largely 298 00:17:54,200 --> 00:17:58,960 Speaker 1: framed as voluntary. Jews were being quote encouraged to sell 299 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:01,919 Speaker 1: their homes and business as to non Jews, but this 300 00:18:02,119 --> 00:18:07,240 Speaker 1: encouragement was rooted in harassment, discrimination and persecution. There wasn't 301 00:18:07,359 --> 00:18:11,200 Speaker 1: much of an actual choice about it. But after Crystal Knocked, 302 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:15,040 Speaker 1: this shifted from a plan that was supposedly voluntary to 303 00:18:15,080 --> 00:18:18,800 Speaker 1: one that was definitely forced. On November twelve, the German 304 00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:21,679 Speaker 1: government issued a decree on the elimination of the Jews 305 00:18:21,760 --> 00:18:25,480 Speaker 1: from economic life, and this forbade Jews from owning or 306 00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:30,840 Speaker 1: managing businesses, working as foreman or managers, working as craftspeople, 307 00:18:31,400 --> 00:18:36,480 Speaker 1: taking part in trade, selling goods, basically every possible way 308 00:18:36,760 --> 00:18:41,000 Speaker 1: of earning a living. Jewish owned businesses were confiscated and 309 00:18:41,080 --> 00:18:45,640 Speaker 1: turned over to non Jews. Even more laws targeting Jews 310 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:50,560 Speaker 1: were passed immediately after Crystal Knocked, including bands on possessing weapons, 311 00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:55,240 Speaker 1: shopping in most stores, and using most public facilities like theaters. 312 00:18:55,280 --> 00:18:58,320 Speaker 1: Also on the twelfth, her Moan Goring announced that the 313 00:18:58,359 --> 00:19:01,560 Speaker 1: Jewish community was going to be find for all the destruction. 314 00:19:02,359 --> 00:19:05,520 Speaker 1: That fine was set at one billion reich marks and 315 00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:09,760 Speaker 1: called an atonement tax. He also announced that any insurance 316 00:19:09,800 --> 00:19:12,399 Speaker 1: settlements for the damage would be property of the state, 317 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:15,679 Speaker 1: not of the people whose property had actually been destroyed. 318 00:19:16,440 --> 00:19:21,399 Speaker 1: Property that wasn't destroyed was also confiscated. The international response 319 00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:24,280 Speaker 1: in the first days after this happened was overall one 320 00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:27,760 Speaker 1: of shock and horror. Because World War Two had not 321 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:29,960 Speaker 1: started yet in Europe, there were still a lot of 322 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:33,800 Speaker 1: international reporters in German territory, and they were largely able 323 00:19:33,840 --> 00:19:37,920 Speaker 1: to move around and report relatively freely. So Crystal Knock 324 00:19:38,080 --> 00:19:42,320 Speaker 1: was widely and critically reported in the international press. For example, 325 00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:45,360 Speaker 1: in the United States, they got more news coverage than 326 00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:48,840 Speaker 1: any other single anti Jewish incident or policy during the 327 00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:52,679 Speaker 1: Nazi era. But in spite of the horror and outrage, 328 00:19:53,040 --> 00:19:56,879 Speaker 1: the international community did essentially nothing to help or to 329 00:19:56,960 --> 00:20:01,800 Speaker 1: protect Jews in Germany and German occupied territory. Nations that 330 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:05,879 Speaker 1: had reached their quotas for immigrants and asylum seekers overwhelmingly 331 00:20:06,040 --> 00:20:11,120 Speaker 1: left those quotas unchanged. Several nations introduced proposals to raise 332 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:15,240 Speaker 1: their quotas, but those proposals failed. Just as an example 333 00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:18,720 Speaker 1: of what happened on the national level, British Prime Minister 334 00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:22,000 Speaker 1: Nevill Chamberlain's set a limit of five hundred refugees per 335 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:25,320 Speaker 1: week to Britain, but it refused to allow refugees from 336 00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:28,640 Speaker 1: Germany into the Palestinian territories, which were at that point 337 00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:32,640 Speaker 1: under British control. The Kinder transport program that we discussed 338 00:20:32,640 --> 00:20:36,080 Speaker 1: in a recent Six Impossible Episodes was only very reluctantly 339 00:20:36,119 --> 00:20:40,800 Speaker 1: approved after extensive lobbying. In the United States, President Franklin 340 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:44,879 Speaker 1: Delano Roosevelt recalled the American ambassador from Berlin as an 341 00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:49,159 Speaker 1: active protest, and he publicly denounced the attack, but he 342 00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:53,760 Speaker 1: didn't allow more Jewish refugees into the United States. Secretary 343 00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:56,879 Speaker 1: of Labor Francis Perkins did convince him to allow about 344 00:20:56,880 --> 00:20:59,159 Speaker 1: twelve thousand Germans who were in the U S at 345 00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:02,800 Speaker 1: the time, most of whom were Jewish, to stay indefinitely, 346 00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:07,320 Speaker 1: even after their visas expired. A bill introduced to Congress 347 00:21:07,359 --> 00:21:09,840 Speaker 1: to allow children under the age of fourteen to enter 348 00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:13,199 Speaker 1: the US, which would have been similar to Kinder transport, 349 00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:16,960 Speaker 1: was not passed. As had been true before Crystal Knack, 350 00:21:17,080 --> 00:21:20,600 Speaker 1: there continued to be individual diplomats and organizations that tried 351 00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:24,760 Speaker 1: to find asylum for Jews in German territory. Several Indian 352 00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:29,840 Speaker 1: princely states also offered asylum, but overall, nations still refused 353 00:21:29,880 --> 00:21:32,639 Speaker 1: to act, and the people who did manage to escape 354 00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:36,080 Speaker 1: from German territory generally faced anti semitism wherever they went. 355 00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:40,360 Speaker 1: As many Jews fled Germany in ninety eight and thirty nine, 356 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:43,240 Speaker 1: as had between nineteen thirty three and nineteen thirty eight, 357 00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:46,080 Speaker 1: but this was a tiny, tiny fraction of people who 358 00:21:46,119 --> 00:21:49,760 Speaker 1: tried to escape. The general refusal to act came from 359 00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:54,040 Speaker 1: a lot of social and economic factors and anti semitism, 360 00:21:54,280 --> 00:21:57,400 Speaker 1: which wasn't at all unique to Germany or its Nazi government. 361 00:21:58,119 --> 00:22:01,040 Speaker 1: In the United States, for example, to any thousand members 362 00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:04,760 Speaker 1: of the pro Nazi German American Bund held an anti 363 00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:10,280 Speaker 1: Semitic Americanization rally in Madison Square Garden on February nineteen 364 00:22:10,359 --> 00:22:14,560 Speaker 1: thirty nine, just months after Crystal Knocked. Persecution of Jews 365 00:22:14,600 --> 00:22:18,240 Speaker 1: continued to increase in Germany and German occupied territory from 366 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:21,120 Speaker 1: this point, and from there it starts to merge into 367 00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:25,720 Speaker 1: the general history of the Holocaust. On November twenty three eight, 368 00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:29,960 Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Examiner read the headline quote, Nazis worn world. 369 00:22:30,119 --> 00:22:34,920 Speaker 1: Jews will be wiped out unless evacuated by democracies. Over 370 00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:38,800 Speaker 1: the next few years, Germany invaded Poland, established ghettos and 371 00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:43,000 Speaker 1: death camps, and planned the final solution of the genocide 372 00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:47,200 Speaker 1: of Europe's Jewish population, along with targeting gay men, romani, 373 00:22:47,359 --> 00:22:52,480 Speaker 1: disabled people, Freemasons, and others. Two waves of investigations followed 374 00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:56,720 Speaker 1: Crystal Knocked, one carried out by the Nazi Party immediately afterward, 375 00:22:57,000 --> 00:22:59,400 Speaker 1: and the other by the German government after the end 376 00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:01,480 Speaker 1: of World War too, And we were going to talk 377 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:04,440 Speaker 1: about those after we first paused for another sponsor break. 378 00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:16,240 Speaker 1: Shortly after Crystal Knock, the Nazi Party launched investigations into 379 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:19,040 Speaker 1: the rapes and murders that had been committed on November 380 00:23:19,119 --> 00:23:22,640 Speaker 1: nine and ten, but neither of these were motivated by 381 00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:26,720 Speaker 1: seeking justice for the victims. One motivation was trying to 382 00:23:26,800 --> 00:23:30,040 Speaker 1: keep the investigation out of the German state court. That 383 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:33,520 Speaker 1: was the primary reason for the murder investigations. The Nazi 384 00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:37,280 Speaker 1: government didn't really care about the murders, especially because the 385 00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:41,960 Speaker 1: victims were Jews, but officials knew that investigations and trials 386 00:23:42,119 --> 00:23:45,120 Speaker 1: carried out by the regular German police and courts would 387 00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:47,960 Speaker 1: unearth the fact that this was a planned and coordinated 388 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:52,879 Speaker 1: attack of mass violence, not a spontaneous civilian uprising. The 389 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:56,920 Speaker 1: rape investigations had another layer. They were ordered because the 390 00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:00,480 Speaker 1: rapes were a violation of the idea of racial purity 391 00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:04,240 Speaker 1: that was central to the Nazi ideology. In addition to 392 00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:07,520 Speaker 1: the racial purity standards in the Nuremberg Laws, the Nazi 393 00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:10,720 Speaker 1: Party had policies about the racial purity of its members. 394 00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:14,280 Speaker 1: The Supreme Party Court had banned anyone who had a 395 00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:18,600 Speaker 1: trace of quote colored or Jewish blood from the party, 396 00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:21,440 Speaker 1: with that trace going back to their family tree to 397 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:25,360 Speaker 1: eighteen hundred, and anyone who was married to anyone who 398 00:24:25,359 --> 00:24:28,000 Speaker 1: had a trace of such blood was also banned from 399 00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:31,200 Speaker 1: the party. So the men who had committed rape during 400 00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:35,639 Speaker 1: the pogram had violated this decree. Mass trials began on 401 00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:39,360 Speaker 1: December twenty eight and they ran through February nine nine. 402 00:24:40,720 --> 00:24:44,520 Speaker 1: The Gestapo was responsible for providing evidence, and jurors were 403 00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:47,359 Speaker 1: selected from the s s and the Essay, along with 404 00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:50,479 Speaker 1: some members of the Nazi Party, but most of the 405 00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:53,240 Speaker 1: trials led to acquittals. A lot of those who were 406 00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:56,320 Speaker 1: convicted of rape had a previous history of some kind 407 00:24:56,359 --> 00:24:59,640 Speaker 1: of involvement with the Jewish woman. Although a few men 408 00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:02,600 Speaker 1: were the prison most of the sentences that were handed 409 00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:06,200 Speaker 1: down were either a warning or ejection from the Nazi Party. 410 00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:09,080 Speaker 1: The second round of trials took place after the end 411 00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:11,800 Speaker 1: of World War Two, most of them between nineteen forty 412 00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:15,240 Speaker 1: six and nineteen fifty. These were separate from the more 413 00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:19,239 Speaker 1: well known Nuremberg trials. The Nuremberg trials were focused on 414 00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:22,639 Speaker 1: high ranking officials and military leaders, but almost none of 415 00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:25,200 Speaker 1: the leaders that we've named in this episode were put 416 00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:30,440 Speaker 1: on trial. Adolf Hitler took his own life on April ninety. 417 00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:34,320 Speaker 1: Joseph Goebbels did the same on the following day, along 418 00:25:34,359 --> 00:25:38,520 Speaker 1: with his wife, after poisoning their children. S s chief 419 00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:41,960 Speaker 1: Reinhard Heydrich, who was also the architect of the Final Solution, 420 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:46,399 Speaker 1: was assassinated in nineteen forty two. It is unknown what 421 00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:49,960 Speaker 1: happened to Gestapo chief Einrich Mueller. Of the leaders we've 422 00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:53,359 Speaker 1: mentioned today, only Hermann Gering was tried at Nuremberg and 423 00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:56,160 Speaker 1: sentenced to death by hanging, but he took his own 424 00:25:56,200 --> 00:25:59,960 Speaker 1: life before being executed. The second wave of trials or 425 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:02,920 Speaker 1: lated to Crystal Knock took place on a much smaller scale. 426 00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:06,800 Speaker 1: They were the results of individual victims bringing charges against 427 00:26:06,800 --> 00:26:10,400 Speaker 1: the perpetrators of specific crimes. So this was a collection 428 00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:14,200 Speaker 1: of individual court cases that were related to individual incidents, 429 00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:17,440 Speaker 1: not a large scale investigation into Crystal knocked as a whole, 430 00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:21,800 Speaker 1: and it involved only victims who had survived the Holocaust 431 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:25,000 Speaker 1: and had the means and ability and frankly, the desire 432 00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:28,480 Speaker 1: to pursue this matter in court. These postwar trials were 433 00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:31,399 Speaker 1: also hampered by the fact that Germany had a tremendous 434 00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:34,959 Speaker 1: shortage of people at every level of the judicial system 435 00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:39,600 Speaker 1: after the war. The overwhelming majority of judges had Nazi ties, 436 00:26:39,960 --> 00:26:42,320 Speaker 1: and at first the Allies were trying to rebuild the 437 00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:47,240 Speaker 1: German judicial system without Nazi influence, and this involved convincing 438 00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:51,199 Speaker 1: judges who had retired before nineteen thirty three to return 439 00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:54,439 Speaker 1: to the bench, as well as appointing new judges. But 440 00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:58,120 Speaker 1: even with those steps, there just weren't enough people without 441 00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:01,679 Speaker 1: Nazi ties to fill all the necessary positions, and it 442 00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:05,160 Speaker 1: wasn't until the nineteen sixties that the proportion of judges 443 00:27:05,240 --> 00:27:09,080 Speaker 1: with Nazi ties really started to drop. All that together 444 00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:11,960 Speaker 1: means that most of the perpetrators of Crystal Knock were 445 00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:14,480 Speaker 1: never brought to justice in any way. And we're going 446 00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:17,720 Speaker 1: to close out this episode by returning to Herschel grindge Bomb. 447 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:21,800 Speaker 1: As we said earlier, after shooting Ernst von Rat, he 448 00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:24,560 Speaker 1: was taken into custody by French authorities and he went 449 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:28,480 Speaker 1: with them willingly. An investigation was conducted in Paris with 450 00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:32,960 Speaker 1: the presiding judge, one who often dealt with juvenile delinquency cases, 451 00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:37,480 Speaker 1: but his case never came to trial. German operatives were 452 00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:40,640 Speaker 1: dispatched to Paris to try to influence the proceedings, while 453 00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:44,919 Speaker 1: Jewish and philanthropic organizations came together in his defense. He 454 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:48,359 Speaker 1: remained in prison until Germany invaded France in May of 455 00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:52,159 Speaker 1: nineteen forty, and then he was transferred into German custody 456 00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:56,040 Speaker 1: on July eighteenth of nineteen forty. The Nazi government planned 457 00:27:56,040 --> 00:27:59,240 Speaker 1: to put him on trial, a massive public show trial 458 00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:03,639 Speaker 1: that would work as dramatic anti Semitic propaganda, but this 459 00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:07,199 Speaker 1: plan ultimately crumbled, in part because of the actions of 460 00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:10,639 Speaker 1: Herschel himself. While Herschel was still in France, one of 461 00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:14,640 Speaker 1: his attorneys had latched onto rumors that vom Rat was homosexual, 462 00:28:15,119 --> 00:28:17,680 Speaker 1: and he tried to use those rumors to build a defense, 463 00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:21,400 Speaker 1: framing this shooting as the result of a lover's quarrel 464 00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:26,120 Speaker 1: in their words, but Herschel refused to accept this defense, 465 00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:28,560 Speaker 1: insisting repeatedly that it was not true at all and 466 00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:31,960 Speaker 1: that his actions were politically motivated. He said, it was 467 00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:34,639 Speaker 1: quote because of love for my parents and for my 468 00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:39,360 Speaker 1: people who were subjected unjustly to outrageous treatment. It is, not, 469 00:28:39,520 --> 00:28:41,960 Speaker 1: after all, a crime to be Jewish. I am not 470 00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:45,160 Speaker 1: a dog. I have the right to live. My people 471 00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:47,840 Speaker 1: have a right to exist on this earth. But in 472 00:28:48,680 --> 00:28:52,400 Speaker 1: two after the German Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Propaganda, and 473 00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:56,120 Speaker 1: Ministry of Justice all started working together to plan this 474 00:28:56,240 --> 00:29:00,800 Speaker 1: huge show trial, Grinchbond finally agreed to the proposed defense. 475 00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:03,480 Speaker 1: There is a bit of conjecture here, but it is 476 00:29:03,560 --> 00:29:06,560 Speaker 1: highly likely that he did this specifically to prevent the 477 00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:10,280 Speaker 1: trial from happening, because it would have had disastrous effects 478 00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:13,680 Speaker 1: on the Jewish community, which was already facing the Holocaust. 479 00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:18,200 Speaker 1: Homosexuality was abhorrent to the Nazi Party, as as we 480 00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:21,520 Speaker 1: said earlier, was sexual contact between Jews and non Jews. 481 00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:24,520 Speaker 1: So this defense also brought in the fact that grinch 482 00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:27,560 Speaker 1: Bond had only been seventeen at the time of the assassination, 483 00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:30,160 Speaker 1: while vomb Rat was nearly thirty, which would have made 484 00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:34,480 Speaker 1: him an alleged Peeder. Asked the political assassination of a 485 00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:37,160 Speaker 1: German official at the hands of a Jew was something 486 00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:40,280 Speaker 1: that the Nazi government could turn to its advantage, but 487 00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:44,160 Speaker 1: homosexual involvement between a German official and a minor Jew 488 00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:48,680 Speaker 1: absolutely was not. Grinch Bond accepted this defense at great 489 00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:51,760 Speaker 1: risk to his own life. He had only been kept 490 00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:55,080 Speaker 1: alive and been treated relatively well for the sake of 491 00:29:55,160 --> 00:29:58,400 Speaker 1: using his trial as a public spectacle, and after the 492 00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:01,200 Speaker 1: trial was called off in the spring of nineteen forty two, 493 00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:05,760 Speaker 1: he disappeared from the historical record. Although there were rumors 494 00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:07,640 Speaker 1: that he survived until the end of the war in 495 00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:11,240 Speaker 1: nineteen forty five and was rescued by the Allies, it's 496 00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:15,280 Speaker 1: overwhelmingly likely that Herschel Grinchbund was killed in a concentration 497 00:30:15,320 --> 00:30:18,640 Speaker 1: camp before that point. In nineteen fifty eight, his father 498 00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:22,680 Speaker 1: petitioned for reparations, and after an investigation, a death certificate 499 00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:25,360 Speaker 1: was issued for Herschel grinch Bun On June one of 500 00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:30,240 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty, so that is a heavy one. I feel 501 00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:34,239 Speaker 1: almost irreverent asking about listener mail, I did prepare some 502 00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:37,080 Speaker 1: listener mail, and I wanted to pick something that was 503 00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:41,760 Speaker 1: not too heavy based on the heaviness of this episode, 504 00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:44,440 Speaker 1: but also not too frivolous, since I don't want to 505 00:30:44,440 --> 00:30:46,960 Speaker 1: feel like we're making light of it. And I got 506 00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:50,880 Speaker 1: an email from Dave that's about our episode on Sir 507 00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:54,840 Speaker 1: Walter Raleigh. Uh and it is titled Raleigh Cobbam and 508 00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:58,280 Speaker 1: the Hearsay Rule, and Dave wrote, high, Holly and Tracy, 509 00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:01,240 Speaker 1: I loved the recent episode on or Walter Raleigh, especially 510 00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:05,080 Speaker 1: the story of his trial. One really interesting point that 511 00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:07,040 Speaker 1: you didn't really get to you stands out from my 512 00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:09,880 Speaker 1: evidence class in law school. It's one of the inspirations 513 00:31:09,920 --> 00:31:12,920 Speaker 1: for the hearsay rule, famous from any legal TV show 514 00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:16,280 Speaker 1: you've ever seen. Long story short. Hearsay is the rule 515 00:31:16,320 --> 00:31:18,480 Speaker 1: that any statement made out of court can't be admitted 516 00:31:18,520 --> 00:31:21,360 Speaker 1: into evidence to prove that it's true. Holly can say 517 00:31:21,480 --> 00:31:24,120 Speaker 1: History Stuff is the best podcast ever, but that can't 518 00:31:24,120 --> 00:31:26,480 Speaker 1: be admitted to prove that History Stuff is the best 519 00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:29,000 Speaker 1: podcast ever unless she showed up in court to say it. 520 00:31:29,080 --> 00:31:31,640 Speaker 1: Under oath. I like how I'm the one causing the 521 00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:35,840 Speaker 1: trouble in this letter. You're always the one causing the trouble. 522 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:43,360 Speaker 1: That's definitely true. We disagree on whether that's true. At 523 00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:47,000 Speaker 1: Raleigh's trial, the only evidence against him was Cobham's confession, 524 00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:51,160 Speaker 1: and Cobham never appeared to testify our evidence. Professor Loved 525 00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:53,720 Speaker 1: to give a dramatic reading from the trial transcript where 526 00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:57,720 Speaker 1: Raleigh states, all this is but one accusation of cobhams. 527 00:31:57,760 --> 00:32:00,200 Speaker 1: I beseech you my Lord's let Cobham be sent or 528 00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:03,800 Speaker 1: charge him on his soul, on his allegiance to the king. 529 00:32:03,960 --> 00:32:06,960 Speaker 1: If he affirm it, I am guilty. Love the podcast, 530 00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:11,880 Speaker 1: Keep up the awesome work, Dave. Then he gives some 531 00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:15,440 Speaker 1: episode suggestions, but he didn't actually give episode suggestions, which 532 00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:18,640 Speaker 1: kind of delights me. So uh, thank you so much 533 00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:22,240 Speaker 1: for sending this email. UM. That is a fascinating story 534 00:32:22,360 --> 00:32:24,719 Speaker 1: about hearsay and Sir Walter Raleigh, and it led me 535 00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:28,080 Speaker 1: to go down the rabbit hole of where the hearsay 536 00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:31,440 Speaker 1: rule came from. UM this morning before we recorded, and 537 00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:34,160 Speaker 1: one of the things that I learned is that UM 538 00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:39,400 Speaker 1: Walter Raleigh's trial happened as opinions were shifting about this. 539 00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:41,840 Speaker 1: It was sort of in the mid fifteen hundreds that 540 00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:45,720 Speaker 1: in court people started bringing up the idea that maybe 541 00:32:45,760 --> 00:32:48,760 Speaker 1: hearsay evidence was was not okay, maybe that person should 542 00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:51,640 Speaker 1: actually be there to speak for themselves, And it continued 543 00:32:51,680 --> 00:32:53,640 Speaker 1: to come up more and more in the sixteen hundreds, 544 00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:56,800 Speaker 1: and then by the late sixteen hundreds and early seventeen hundreds, 545 00:32:56,800 --> 00:33:02,240 Speaker 1: it becomes more uh standard that hearsay evidence isn't admissible, 546 00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:06,320 Speaker 1: that maybe a sworn testimony that was given under oath 547 00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:09,720 Speaker 1: outside of the court is admissible. Um. But yeah, he 548 00:33:09,840 --> 00:33:12,600 Speaker 1: was sort of part of that arc of how those 549 00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:16,240 Speaker 1: rules evolved. So thank you so much Dave for sending 550 00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:18,080 Speaker 1: that note. If you would like to write to us 551 00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:21,320 Speaker 1: about this, certainty of our other podcast where at History 552 00:33:21,360 --> 00:33:24,160 Speaker 1: podcast at how Stuff Works dot com. We're also all 553 00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:26,360 Speaker 1: over social media at missed in History. That's where you'll 554 00:33:26,360 --> 00:33:29,880 Speaker 1: find our Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. You can come 555 00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:32,080 Speaker 1: to our website, which is missed in History dot com 556 00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:34,800 Speaker 1: to find show notes for this episode and the episodes 557 00:33:34,840 --> 00:33:36,520 Speaker 1: that Holly and I have worked on together, as well 558 00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:39,880 Speaker 1: as a searchable archive of every episode ever, and you 559 00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:43,840 Speaker 1: can listen to and subscribe to our podcasts on Apple podcasts, 560 00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:47,280 Speaker 1: Google podcasts, the I Heart Radio app, and wherever you 561 00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:54,800 Speaker 1: like to listen to podcasts. For more on this and 562 00:33:54,880 --> 00:34:03,600 Speaker 1: thousands of other topics, visit how stuff Works dot com