The Morning after the Night of Broken Glass [Kristallnacht] in Munich: The Destroyed Synagogue on Reichenbachstrasse in Munich (November 10, 1938)

More than 1,000 Jewish community buildings, places of worship, and synagogues were destroyed in the Kristallnacht pogrom. After November 10, 1938, it was virtually impossible for Jews to hold public religious services in Germany. The Nazi leadership's main goal, however, was not to stop the practice of the Jewish religion but to exclude Jews from economic and cultural life in Germany once and for all. Hitler charged Göring, in his role as Plenipotentiary for the Four-Year Plan, with taking the relevant steps toward this goal. On November 12, 1938, Göring organized a conference of more than hundred representatives of the economy, the party, and the government. There, it was decided that German Jews should pay for all of the damages incurred during Kristallnacht. This amounted to an "atonement fee" of a billion Reichsmarks. All Jewish taxpayers were required to give back a fifth of their income until August of the following year. The money was payable in quarterly installments. In the end, this scheme brought in 1.127 billion Reichsmarks for the Nazi regime. Additionally, the total amount paid by insurance companies – 225 million Reichsmarks – was confiscated by the state. Photo by Heinrich Hoffmann.

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© Bildarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz / Heinrich Hoffmann