On this day in 1938, a wave of violent anti-Jewish demonstrations broke out throughout Germany, Austria, and part of Czechoslovakia, which were occupied by Nazi troops. These pogroms, collectively termed Kristallnacht, or ‘The Night of Broken Glass’, caused mass destruction of Jewish properties, including synagogues, stores, and homes. Hundreds of Jews, many of whom were sent to concentration camps, died due to either injury or suicide in the aftermath.The pogrom erupted in response to the assassination of Ernst vom Rath, a German embassy official stationed in Paris. On November 9, Vom Rath officially passed away, sparking the violence.The Hitler Youth and the Sturmabteilungen (the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party; SA) jointly engaged in the destruction of Jewish property. Rioters were given only a few orders by Nazi leaders, one of which was to arrest as many Jews as possible. By the end of the pogrom, nearly 30,000 Jewish men had been locked up and sent away to concentration camps.The fire was set to hundreds of synagogues, which were permitted to burn endlessly unless the fire started to spread to non-Jewish property. An estimated 7,500 Jewish-owned businesses were looted and destroyed, and Jewish cemeteries were heavily vandalized as well. Berlin and Vienna, the two largest Jewish communities under Nazi control, experienced the worst of the attacks, with mobs of rioters roaming the streets and leaving complete devastation in their wake. Kristallnacht resulted in the first of many waves of Jews who were persecuted because of Nazi violence. German leaders placed the blame on the Jews for their fate and proceeded to introduce a series of measures that would banish Jewish influence in the region, especially within the economy. Jews were prohibited from most professions, education, and transportation, and were also segregated from recreational facilities. These steps culminated in the following years with the Nazi mission to free Germany completely of Jews.