The anti-Jewish pogroms in Nazi Germany on 9–10 November 1938 are commonly called Kristallnacht.
The German term refers to the broken glass scattered across streets after Jewish-owned shops, homes, and synagogues were attacked. Nazi officials presented the violence as a spontaneous public reaction to the shooting of German diplomat Ernst vom Rath by Herschel Grynszpan, but the pogroms were organized and encouraged by the Nazi regime.
At least 91 Jews were killed in the immediate violence, and about 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Hundreds of synagogues were destroyed, and thousands of businesses were damaged. Many historians use the term November Pogrom because Kristallnacht can sound too euphemistic for a state-backed wave of terror.