Published on Encyclopédie des violences de masse (http://ww
w.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance)
Grynszpan (1921- ?), Herschel
Son of Polish-Russian parents who fled anti-Semitism, Grynszpan could not find a job because of the
Nuremberg Laws. He obtained a visa for Belgium where he stayed for a short while before moving to
Paris. At the same time in Germany, the deportation of Jews had begun. The Grynszpan family was
deported to Zbaszyn, a small town located at the German-Polish border. Herschel received a terrible
letter from his sister Berta who explained their painful situation and asked for some money.
Completely confused, Grynszpan took a gun and went to the German embassy where he shot an
embassy employee called vom Rath. He opposed no resistance when police arrested him. His lawyer
proposed him to plead the crime of passion and to claim that vom Rath was homosexual. Because of
the delicate relationships between France and Germany, the custody lasted some time while other
people thought that a trial would be a good opportunity to criticize the Nazi regime. The desperate
act served as an excuse for Nazis to activate the so-called Cristal Night in whole Germany, in Austria
and in the Czech part of the Sudetenland. Grynszpan was extremely sorry about all that was
happening because he first thought that his act would help Jews. [Hitler->315] instrumentalized the
event, which could have remained a single criminal incident. When the Nazi Gustloff was
assassinated in Switzerland under similar circumstances, the Nazis did not react, but this time, they
accelerated the process aiming at solving the “Jewish question”. Shortly after, the Nazis said that
should a war be declared, the first victims would not be Germans but Jews who would be
exterminated. Left out in a French prison, Grynszpan was recuperated by the Germans in 1940. In
Berlin, the Ministry of Propaganda and [Goebbels->309] wanted to use the Grynszpan case against
the Jews but the trial never took place because [Hitler->315] did not want vom Rath to be
considered a homosexual as Grynszpan claimed in Paris, following the suggestion of his lawyer
Moro-Gaffieri. After the war no trace of Grynszpan could be found and today no one knows about the
circumstances of his death.
Bareiss, A.-F., 2005, Herschel Feibel Grynszpan: Der Attentater Und Die Reichskristallnacht Eine
Tatsachenerzahlung, Giessen: Haland Wirth.
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