Kristallnacht (
German pronunciation: [kสษชsหtalnaฯt] ) or the
Night of Broken Glass, also called the
November pogrom(s) (German:
Novemberpogrome,
pronounced [noหvษm.bษ.poหษกสoหmษ] ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's
Sturmabteilung (SA) paramilitary and
Schutzstaffel (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from the Hitler Youth and German civilians throughout Nazi Germany on 9โ10 November 1938. The German authorities looked on without intervening. The name
Kristallnacht (literally 'Crystal Night') comes from the shards of broken glass that littered the streets after the windows of Jewish-owned stores, buildings, and synagogues were smashed. The pretext for the attacks was the assassination of the German diplomat Ernst vom Rath by Herschel Grynszpan, a 17-year-old German-born Polish Jew living in Paris.