Sadly, tonite in 1938

[MrBern]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht


Kristallnacht, also known as Reichskristallnacht, Pogromnacht, Crystal Night and the Night of Broken Glass, was a pogrom against Jews throughout Germany and parts of Austria on November 9–November 10, 1938.
Jewish homes along with 8,000 Jewish shops were ransacked in numerous German cities , towns and villages, as civilians and both the SA (Sturmabteilung) and the SS (Schutzstaffel) destroyed buildings with sledgehammers, leaving the streets covered in smashed windows — the origin of the name "Night of Broken Glass." Jews were beaten to death; 30,000 Jewish men were taken to concentration camps; and 1,668 synagogues ransacked with 267 set on fire.
The Times of London wrote of the violence: "no foreign propagandist bent upon blackening Germany before the world could outdo the tale of burnings and beatings, of blackguardly assaults on defenceless and innocent people, which disgraced that country yesterday."

 

[dhermann1]

This was after Munich. I wonder how this influenced the thinking of Mr Chamberlain, who thought he could trust Hitler. Ten months later Hitler found out that there indeed WAS a limit to what the world would tolerate.

 

[Edward]

Chamberlain certainly ended up looking a bit of a fool. That said, while I don't know any more than this, I did hear recently that there's a revisionist argument now being put that far from being the weak appeaser that Chamberlian has gone down in history as, he actually bought the British forces valuable time as they were not ready for war in 1938. An interesting thesis, but as I say I don't know enough to comment on its validity.

 

[dhermann1]

Churchill said as much in his book. They really started rearming as early as 1936, but only slightly. If they had moved in 1936, when Hitler was even weaker than Britain and France, he would have been overthrown by his generals. Even as late as 1938, if the allies had let the Czechs fight, they would have given the Germans a real bloody nose, and the generals could have deposed Hitler even then.
But Churchill did indeed say that the year they gained from Munich helped. Whether this was Chamberlain's purpose is highly questionable, as far as I'm concerned. I'd like to see what evidence they base this on.

 

[J. M. Stovall]

The first time I remember reading about this was at the Holocaust Museum in D.C., probably eight years ago now. I don't think my wife or I said hardly a word the whole time we were there, it's all just so horrible.

 

[Vintage Betty]

Thank you for taking the time to show us our history.

I hope we never repeat it.

Vintage Betty