Summary Of The Film 'Night Of Broken Glass'

1- In this film, Holocaust scholar Michael Brenbaum claims that it is possible to understand the Holocaust by exploring the meaning of the following six words; definition, expropriation, concentration, einsatzgruppen, deportation and death camps. Of those six words, the two that I found to be the most useful in promoting my knowledge of the Holocaust are definition and einsatzgruppen. The idea of definitions was very prominent during Nazi occupation and the Holocaust especially when it comes to defining who was and wasn’t a german citizen. We normally would define someone who is Jewish on the basis of the identity they held along with the traditions the practices and the beliefs they embody in their everyday lives. The Germans on the other

There were a couple primary-source letters that were talked about in this film. One of them was a letter from a non-Jewish woman to her mother-in-law talking about Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass. In the beginning of the letter, the women feels pity with the Jews but towards the end her ton changes and she even states that from all the belongings thrown the Jewish individuals apartments she realized just how much the Jews possessed that what they possessed were things that non-Jews didn’t have or didn’t have enough of. Another letter that was shared is from a victim of the Holocaust and paints a different picture than the one from the non-Jewish woman. This letter was thrown from a train by Dr. Otto Simmons at the end of August 1942 and said; “My dears, we are on our way to Poland, nothing has helped, there are 50 of us in one car. Stay strong and be brave and courageous and I will be also. I was stripped of everything. Kisses Otto.” Aside from letters, there were other artifacts that the film also showed, like some of the ovens that were made by Topf and Sons that were used at many of the death and concentration camps as well as various belonging, watches, rings, ect, that were recovered from the camps. Survivor testimony plays a large role in validating the historical authenticity of this film because they are the ones who actually lived through the events and can give real first hand accounts of what happened and what life was life during the Holocaust. One survivor from the film, Tom Blatt who survived the Sobibor death camp recounted how when you would arrive to the camp you would be greeted by a fake doctor in a white apron. He would then give a short speech and