The Night of Broken Glass through a Survivor’s Eyes

Holocaust survivor and eyewitness of Kristallnacht Susan Warsinger, 1941. —US Holocaust Memorial Museum, gift of Susan Warsinger

On the night of November 9, 1938, nine-year-old Susan Warsinger’s life changed forever. That night the Nazi regime orchestrated a wave of violence against Jews, a deadly turning point in Holocaust history known as Kristallnacht. Susan’s neighbors in Bad Kreuznach, Germany, betrayed her family — throwing rocks through her bedroom window and even ripping down a lamppost and ramming it through their front door while a police officer watched. Her father was among 30,000 men arrested simply for being Jewish.

In this digital program, Holocaust survivor and Museum volunteer Susan Warsinger talks about her experience of Kristallnacht and the moment her parents decided to send her away to try to save her.