Tags: Herschel Grynzspan

The play is based on the events of November 9–10, 1938 in Nazi Germany and Austria called Kristallnacht, in which hundreds of synagogues and Jewish owned businesses were systematically destroyed and up to 30,000 Jews sent to concentration camps. This single event was a precursor to the Holocaust. Kristallnacht was triggered by the shooting of a low-level Nazi official in Paris by a 17-year-old German Jew residing with his uncle and aunt in Paris. For the Nazis, this was the perfect excuse to get rid of the Jews once and for all. The Night Of Broken Glass is based on some of those events that led up to the trial of Herschel Grynzspan, named Herschel Green in the play. The collusion of the German and French governments is brought out during the testimony. The play is relevant to the current anti-Semitism in France and Germany and highlights the parallel between 1938 and the present day.