Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5
In this final part of my Kristallnacht series I will finish addressing Holocaust Denial on Trial’s (HDoT) entry on why Kristallnacht wasn’t a Jewish conspiracy. The following is the extent of HDoT’s argument about the Sturmabteilung (SA) involvement in Kristallnacht:
There is nothing to back up the claims that “all 28 units enthusiastically participated—as did the SS and the Gestapo,” and I have already addressed Goebbels’s speech and diary, so we will move on.
On how the violence started, I will present Ingrid Weckert’s claim in full since HDoT, as usual, does a poor job of representing it:
Already on 8 November 1938, one day before the Crystal Night, strange persons who had never been seen there before suddenly appeared in several small towns in Hessen near the French-German border. They went to mayors, Kreisleiters (district Party leaders) and other important officials in these towns and asked them what actions were being planned against the Jews. The officials were rather startled by these questions and replied that they didn’t know of any such plans. The strangers acted as if they were shocked to hear this. They shouted and complained that something had to be done against the Jews and then, without further explanation, they disappeared. Most of those who were approached by these strangers reported the incidents to the police or discussed them with friends. They usually regarded the strangers as crazy anti-Semites and promptly forgot about the incidents — until the next evening. Some of these apparently crazy individuals really outdid themselves. In one case two men, dressed as members of the SS, went to an SA Standartenführer (Colonel) and ordered him to destroy the nearby synagogue. To understand the absurdity of this one must know that the SS and SA were completely separate organizations. A real SS member would never have tried to give orders to an SA unit. This case shows that the strangers were foreigners who did not even understand the distinctions of German authority. The SA Standartenführer rejected the demands of the self-styled SS men and reported the incident to his superiors.
When the provocateurs realized that their efforts were not working with local officials, they changed their tactics. Instead they tried to incite directly the people in the streets. In another town, for example, two men appeared at the market place and began making speeches to the people there, trying to incite them against the Jews. Eventually some people did indeed storm the synagogue, but by then the two provocateurs had, of course, disappeared.
Similar incidents occured in several towns. Unidentified strangers suddenly appeared, gave speeches, started throwing stones at windows, stormed Jewish buildings, schools, hospitals, and synagogues, and then disappeared. These unusual incidents had already started on the 8th of November, that is, before Ernst vom Rath was dead. His death was only reported late on the evening of the 8th. The fact that this strange pattern of incidents had already begun one day earlier proves that the death of vom Rath was not the reason for the Crystal Night outburst. Vom Rath was still alive when the pogrom began.
In contrast, HDoT makes the assertion that it was the German Stormtroopers (SA) who were the real provocateurs. What HDoT doesn’t do is acknowledge the fact that unrest was indeed happening days before Vom Rath’s death. Why does HDoT neglect to mention this? Because there were spontaneous demonstrations that happened upon hearing the news that Vom Rath had been shot. This lends doubt to the claim that the riots were initiated by the state rather than being an organic response to a German official being murdered or a PSYOP instigated by Jews.
Unfortunately, I cannot independently verify Weckert’s claims. People with access to that sort of documentation could, but they won’t—and they won’t let people like me access it. I’m far more inclined to trust Weckert’s analysis than the narrative of the Holocaust institutions whom I’ve caught lying countless times.
So, let’s summarize the claims and evidence. The claim that Hitler knew about and authorized the violence comes from speculation about Goebbels’ diary. The claim that is was state-sponsored comes from documentation submitted to the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg (IMT) by America’s Psychological Warfare Division. The strange circumstances surrounding Grynszpan and the murder of Vom Rath point to the possibility that he didn’t act alone. And on top of all that, I kept running into claims made by Holocaust fabulists that simply did not check out.
Furthermore, I will once again bring up the fact that presiding judge at the IMT attempted to keep Von Eberstein from going into deal about how the Schutzstaffel (SS) attempted to maintain order:
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Pelckmann, the witness is saying that he took every step to prevent these excesses. I don’t think we want the details. I don’t think that we want to hear the details of the steps he took to prevent these things and to keep order. The Prosecution can cross-examine if they want to.
HERR PELCKMIANN: Mr. President, is it not possible for me to submit to the witness just what he will be asked by the Prosecution? I consider it important that the witness himself should …
THE PRESIDENT: The witness has been telling us, for several minutes, what happened on the 9th and 10th of November 1938, and we think we know enough. We know the general nature of what he said and we don’t want the details of it. If you think that he has not said that the SS did not participate in the excesses, you can ask him that question. He says as far as he is concerned that he did not take part, but that he tried to stop it. We don’t want to hear the details of how he tried to stop it. (my emphasis added)
Given the flimsy evidence presented by HDoT, I have no reason to believe that Kristallnacht was masterminded or encouraged by Hitler, and I’ve not seen enough evidence to rule out that there was no Jewish provocation. Bottom line is that much like Anne Frank’s diary, the official version of Kristallnacht is important to Holocaust fabulists, but at the same time it does not prove genocide or homicidal gas chambers.
Stay tuned for the next installment in my “Who Started WW2” series where I will be getting into Poland’s role in the lead-up to WW2.