Introduction November 7, 1938 The Death of vom Rath The Victim The Aftermath--Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass) World Reaction Growing Up Jewish in Hitler's Germany Grynszpan's Emigration-- Life in Paris The Deportation of the Grynszpan Family From Despair to Vengeance The Prosecution The Defense Team The Trial of Abraham and Chawa Grynszpan A Complex Character Moves and Countermoves Evacuation from Paris--Extradition to Germany A German Trial for Herschel Grynszpan--A Proposal A House Divided--Nazi Trial Preparations The Trial The Problem of Paragraph 175 The End? Summing Up Epilogue Dramatis Personae Bibliography Index
A detailed picture of the planning and preparation the Nazis undertook in order to stage a show trial--with Herschel Grynszpan as the representative of World Jewry. Simon Wiesenthal
GERALD SCHWAB was born and raised in Germany. After the events of Kristallnacht he and his family emigrated to the United States. In 1946 he served as translator/interpreter at the International War Crimes Tribunal in Nuremberg followed by a career in the State Department.
"Gerald Schwab has written a compelling story about the aftermath
of one of the most important events to take place on the path to
the Holocaust. Using primarily official German documents, Schwab
has written a fascinating, exhaustively researched book which is
sure to become a standard work on this subject. He is to be
congratulated for producing a work which maintains the reader's
interest throughout while maintaining the highest levels of
scholarship."-Senator Rudy Boschwitz
"Gerald Schwab's The Day the Holocaust Began is fascinating
reading. It is an extremely valuable account of the story of
Herschel Grynszpan, the expulsion of Polish Jews from Germany, the
November 1938 pogrom (Crystal Night), and of Grynszpan's subsequent
fate as a prisoner of the Nazis. This vivid and dramatic story is
both biographical and historical and fills a critical gap in our
understanding of the Holocaust."-Sybil Milton, Resident Historian
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
"The Day the Holocaust Began gives a detailed picture of the
planning and preparations the Nazis undertook in order to stage a
show trial--with Herschel Grynszpan as the representative of World
Jewry...The extensive chronology in this book is impressive and
should prove quite useful for historians...it fills a void in
historiography, and I am sure it will be read by a vast and
appreciative audience."-Simon Wiesenthal
?The day the Holocaust began was November 7, 1938, when Herschel
Grynszpan, a 17-year-old Polish-German Jew, shot and killed Eduard
vom Rath, an officer in the German embassy in Paris. Grynszpan
proclaimed that he wanted to avenge the great wrong which had been
visited on his fellow Jews in general and on his family in
particular.' What followed was the Kristallnacht, in which 265
synagogues were destroyed, 7,500 Jewish businesses looted, and
30,000 Jews sent to concentration camps--the first step in the
Holocaust. Schwab's father was one of those sent to the camps.
Schwab became interested in the Grynszpan case and eventually met
an embassy clerk who had been a key witness at Grynszpan's trial,
as well as Grynszpan's defense lawyer. Schwab describes Grynszpan's
experiences while in French and German custody and gives a detailed
background of the assassin-hero. The author asserts that in the
final analysis, Grynszpan performed a valuable service for European
Jews--for although his dee?-Booklist
?This history, a footnote to that of the Holocaust, tells the story
of the trial and eventual liquidation of Grynzspan as completely as
it ever will be known.?-Washington Post Book World
"This history, a footnote to that of the Holocaust, tells the story
of the trial and eventual liquidation of Grynzspan as completely as
it ever will be known."-Washington Post Book World
"The day the Holocaust began was November 7, 1938, when Herschel
Grynszpan, a 17-year-old Polish-German Jew, shot and killed Eduard
vom Rath, an officer in the German embassy in Paris. Grynszpan
proclaimed that he wanted to avenge the great wrong which had been
visited on his fellow Jews in general and on his family in
particular.' What followed was the Kristallnacht, in which 265
synagogues were destroyed, 7,500 Jewish businesses looted, and
30,000 Jews sent to concentration camps--the first step in the
Holocaust. Schwab's father was one of those sent to the camps.
Schwab became interested in the Grynszpan case and eventually met
an embassy clerk who had been a key witness at Grynszpan's trial,
as well as Grynszpan's defense lawyer. Schwab describes Grynszpan's
experiences while in French and German custody and gives a detailed
background of the assassin-hero. The author asserts that in the
final analysis, Grynszpan performed a valuable service for European
Jews--for although his dee"-Booklist
Ask a Question About this Product More... |