One of the most disturbing chapters of the pre-war Nazi era in Germany is marked on November 9. On this date in 1938 more than 1,400 synagogues and other Jewish institutions were looted and destroyed across Germany and Austria by the Nazis. The incident became known as 'Kristallnacht' (Crystal Night) or the Night of the Broken Glass - a reference to the frenzied smashing of windows of Jewish Shops and businesses that took place across both countries.
At least 91 Jews were killed in the violence whipped up by Nazi stormtroopers and some 26,000 were rounded up. Seen as a precursor to the Holocaust, the events on that night marked the start of the regime's systematic mass murder of millions of Jews.