“They smashed all the glasses, all the mirrors – everything.”
Vienna, on the night of November 10, 1938: Synagogues are being set on fire and Jewish shops destroyed throughout the city. Jews are hunted, kidnapped and murdered.
On this website you can learn about how Jewish eyewitnesses experienced the March 1938 “Anschluss” – the annexation of Austria to the German Reich – and the subsequent anti-Jewish pogroms of November 1938.
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The November Pogroms
A night of violence
The November pogroms of 1938 were acts of violence organized and directed by the German Nazi regime against Jews throughout the German Reich, including Vienna.
We trace the course of the pogroms.
A destroyed shoe store in Vienna on November 10, 1938 (Foto: Wiener Library/DöW F. Nr. 6392)
Witness Testimonies
Paul Back reports on how he experienced the Nazi takeover in Austria when he was twelve years old.
Wilhelm Steiner was eighteen years old in November 1938 and had to watch how his family’s business was plundered. When he wanted to intervene, he was accused of insulting Hitler and was arrested.
Learn here how Wilhelm Steiner was interrogated by the Gestapo.
In 1938, Gertrude Kritzer was fifteen years old. On the morning of November 10, her father, Adolf Roman Braun, was arrested, detained and tortured for ten days.
Learn here about how Gertrude’s mother tried to prevent the arrest.
Resources
Want to learn more about the November Pogroms?
The testimonies featured on this site are just a glimpse into the history of the November pogroms of 1938. We’ve put together an extensive directory of resources to help you deepen your knowledge.
The image in the background shows a destroyed shoe store in Vienna on November 10, 1938
(Photo: Wiener Library/DöW F. Nr. 6392)