The Night of Broken GlassGermans had fostered a growing resentment of Jewish people for years, encouraged by the Nazi Party and antisemitic propaganda. Tensions reached a breaking point on the Night of Broken Glass. After a employee of the German embassy was assassinated by a young Jewish refugee, outraged Germans looted Jewish businesses, homes, schools, cemeteries, and hospitals, and burned over 250 synagogues. German police officers and fire fighters did nothing to stop the Night of Broken Glass, which spanned over two days.
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Nationalism in Nazi Germany
One of the key components to the Nazi rise to power was the grandeur it portrayed. The Nazi regime brought back the image of a powerful nation. Red flags and swastikas decorated streets, armbands, houses, and shops. The Berlin Olympics of 1938 saw the best that Germany had to offer, served by the Nazi party that was reinvigorating a previously crippled and defeated Germany. If the Nazi party was helping Germans stand tall again, could it be so terrible?
At the same time, hateful propaganda was constantly being churned out by the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, which was headed by Joseph Goebbels, one of Hitler's close associates, depicting Jewish people and Communists as monsters, as well as attacking the allies. The ministry took control of all forms of communication in Germany: newspapers, magazines, books, public meetings, and rallies, art, music, movies, and radio; and censored any viewpoints that were threatening to Nazi beliefs. Schools indoctrinated children with Nazi ideas, as shown in stage one. There was almost no escape from Nazi ideology in Germany.
At the same time, hateful propaganda was constantly being churned out by the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, which was headed by Joseph Goebbels, one of Hitler's close associates, depicting Jewish people and Communists as monsters, as well as attacking the allies. The ministry took control of all forms of communication in Germany: newspapers, magazines, books, public meetings, and rallies, art, music, movies, and radio; and censored any viewpoints that were threatening to Nazi beliefs. Schools indoctrinated children with Nazi ideas, as shown in stage one. There was almost no escape from Nazi ideology in Germany.