Lecture 10: The War against the Jews
and Others: A "Twisted Road"?
Preliminary
journals due
policy on late submissions and absences
questions about paper proposals?
Film 1 (10 mins.): 1980 documentary "Image
before my Eyes"
interwar Jewish culture in Poland, 1920-1930s
Rural, small towns (Shtetl=Städtle),
and urban
"Reichskristallnacht:"
What is in a name? (pogrom or poking fun)
March 1938: Polish re-immigration ruling;
29 Sept.: Munich agreement
28 Oct.: Jews of Polish descent expelled;
6,000 of 17,000 in camps
Letter to Herschyl Grynszpan from his family,
arrives Paris, 3 Nov.; 6 Nov. on the street
9 Nov.: urgent telegram from Munich Gestapo
(Heydrich) to Gau propaganda offices:
"Synagogues may only be
set on fire if there is no danger of fire spreading. Shops and
homes of Jews may only be damaged, not pillaged. The police are
instructed to supervise the observance of this order and to arrest
looters.
As many Jews as can be kept in prisons have to be arrested. Concentration
camps are to provide for their immediate accommodation.
This police measure issued by the Reichsführer-SS" signed
Heydrich, SS-Gruppenführer
10-11-12 November
aftermath: economic consequences
Film clip (10 mins.): "Kristallnacht: The Journey from
1938 to 1988" (PBS, 1988)
Eric Severeid (Paris reporter); Richard Hottelet (UPS Berlin)
Bielefeld footage: amateur, not staged or censored
new research: 1100+ synagogues destroyed, not 191; 300+ dead,
not 91 or 36.