Kristallnacht

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/kristallnacht

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the event name?Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) / November Pogroms
2. What is the date?November 9-10, 1938
3. What happened during Kristallnacht?On November 9-10, 1938, the Nazis carried out a planned attack on Jewish people and property. Glass shattered everywhere, buildings were broken, and many synagogues were burned.
4. Why did the Nazis target Jewish people on that night?They used the killing of a German diplomat by a Polish Jew as a pretext. The Nazis wanted to show their power and erase Jewish presence.

Pogrom: A violent riot, especially one targeting a particular ethnic or religious group, often with state complicity.
Sturmabteilung (SA): The Nazi Party's original paramilitary wing, known for its brown shirts and street violence.
Schutzstaffel (SS): The elite Nazi paramilitary organization responsible for security, intelligence, and running concentration camps.
Holocaust: The systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.