48 Hours of Kristallnacht by Mitchell G. Bard

Book Review by Charles S. Weinblatt
Author, Jacob’s Courage

48 Hours of Kristallnacht: Night of Destruction/Dawn of the Holocaust is the terrifying story of the mendacious force of Nazi Germany, inflicted upon innocent Jews in the days leading up to World War II and the Holocaust.  Author Mitchell Bard offers multiple views of this intense episode of malice, as seen through the eyes of German and Austrian Jewish children.  48 Hours of Kristallnacht carries the reader through the shock of homicide, firebombing and religious persecution.  This is not an evil created by the mind of a horror-fiction writer.  These are the true recollections of Kristallnacht victims, primarily innocent children, masterfully retold by Bard.

Between 1935 and 1938, anti-Jewish Nazi laws had become ubiquitous throughout Germany and Austria.   On the nights of November 9th and 10th of 1938, rampaging mobs of Germans and Austrians engaged in widespread murder, plunder, arson and vicious attacks against innocent and unarmed Jewish civilians.  In less than two days, the calm, quiet existence of Jewish life in Germany and Austria came to a horrific halt at the hands of the wicked minions of Nazi Germany.  With gripping tension, Bard unfolds this infamous incident as witnessed by Jewish children. 

Bard employs the anecdotal recollection of surviving children and unprecedented compilations of archived forensic research to describe the compelling events of this unforgettable night, now known as Kristallnacht.  This fearsome tale, fraught with continuous peril, is recanted repeatedly, through the unique perspective of Jewish children from various German and Austrian communities. 

In one unbelievable night, hundreds of synagogues and thousands of Jewish homes and businesses were attacked and burned, while firefighters simply observed, rather than put the fires out.  They had been told to protect the nearby homes of gentiles only.  In one horrendous night, hundreds of innocent Jews were murdered, their possessions looted and their holy books defiled and destroyed.  This was the beginning of the persecution, deportation, forced labor and murder of six million innocent Jews.  At least 30,000 innocent Jews were arrested that night of iniquity and sent to Nazi concentration camps.  Most of them were never seen again. 

Weaving history with storytelling, Bard takes us on a journey through one of the most shocking nights in the history of the Jewish people.  Nazi leadership wanted to “teach Jews a lesson,” while protecting gentile homes and businesses.  The result was the targeted looting and destruction of Jewish property and the deportation and murder of countless innocent Jews. 

Kristallnacht means, “Night of broken glass.”  Throughout the frightful night, angry mobs destroyed Jewish property.  The next day, the shattered glass from Jewish storefronts, synagogues and homes was scattered across the sidewalks and streets of Germany and Austria.  This well-planned event on the part of Nazi leadership and their subordinates sent a terrifying message to the entire world, that Jews were to be evicted, looted, punished, enslaved and murdered.  It told the world that Jews were “an inferior race,” to be exterminated in favor of the Aryan race. 

Bard accesses a vast recollection of events, primarily eyewitness accounts, much of which had been previously unpublished.  His use of the children’s testimonials weaves a unique perception of the danger, terror, degradation, humiliation and death.  While Jewish mothers and children were typically allowed to remain out of custody, virtually all of their husbands, fathers and grandfathers were incarcerated and sent to prisons and concentration camps.  The chilling childhood vignettes invoke a recollection of the terror inflicted from watching helplessly as one’s father is beaten and arrested.  Children look up to their fathers as a source of strength and safety.  Bard’s Jewish children had this security blanket swept out from underneath them in the span of one horrific night.  One can feel the anguish of these children during the dreadful experience, frightened beyond measure by the pure hatred and contempt of their gentile neighbors.

Confusion reigned during Kristallnacht as Jewish families were attacked by a combination of thugs, the SS, Gestapo and common criminals.  Nazi leaders emptied prisons in order to engage the most vicious criminals to attack unsuspecting Jews.  While rumors had floated for days before the event, the attacks came as a shock.  The smoldering fires of burned synagogues and holy books presaged the eventual fires of crematoria as the Nazi extermination of the Jewish people began on Kristallnacht.

Bard transports the reader into the comfortable flats and homes of Jewish families as the massacre begins.  This unrelenting terror, told via the eyes and ears of its youngest victims, enables the reader to sense the terror of blind rage aimed at the innocent Jews.  This piercing, insightful book contains events that must be maintained by humanity for all time.  In reenacting those terrible hours, Bard proffers humanity’s worst characteristics, an evil example of intolerance for all time to come. 

May Bard’s descriptions of this horrendous event forever portend that which humanity is capable of performing – the deliberate extermination of an entire group, based upon their unique faith and ethnic heritage.  Bard’s collection of childhood recollections and archived research is emotional, authoritative and authentic.  He allows us to view the most evil characteristics of humanity, describing a scenario that our progeny must dutifully avoid.

Charles S. Weinblatt
Author, Jacob’s Courage
http://jacobscourage.wordpress.com/