Refers to Nazi-instigated anti-Jewish violence that occurred November 9-10, 1938 throughout Germany and German-annexed Austria and the Sudetenland. The literal translation of Kristallnacht is “night of broken glass,” in reference to the shards from the broken windows of Jewish businesses and homes that littered the streets after the pogroms.
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In the wake of the Kristallnacht pogroms, refugee aid committees in Great Britain pressured the government to relax restrictions to allow refugee children from Germany and Germany-annexed territories into the country. The Kindertransport, or children's transport, brought about 10,000 children, most Jewish, from Nazi territory to Great Britain from 1938 until 14 May 1940.
The Nazis established Jewish Councils (German: Judenrat, pl. Judenräte) to implement enforcement of Nazi policy in Jewish communities. Often condemned as collaborationists, Judenrat members had no authority of their own and were bound to comply with Nazi orders. The Nazis required Jewish Councils to deliver lists of Jews and assemble community members for deportations and labor. Failure to comply or enforce orders resulted in reprisals, including deportation or execution.
German word for Jew (plural: Juden).
Formed by youth groups in the Warsaw Ghetto after the start of massive deportations of Jews to Treblinka in July 1942, the Jewish Fighting Organization (Polish: Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa or ZOB) advocated armed resistance and self-defense and was connected to the Polish underground. When German troops and police entered the Warsaw Ghetto on April 19, 1943 to round up the remaining population for deportation, they were attacked by ghetto fighters. ZOB cells were able to hold out for a month but the uprising was eventually crushed by the Nazis. The remaining Jews in the ghetto were deported to killing centers or condemned to forced labor and the ghetto was completely destroyed.