Holocaust Memorial Education Center

Red dots indicate cities where synagogues were destroyed.

Nearly 1,000 synagogues were set afire on November 9, 1938, in an officially orchestrated evening of widespread violence and vandalism of Jewish property. In addition to the burning of synagogues, Jewish businesses and shops were severely vandalized throughout Germany. Josef Goebbels, the propaganda minister under Adolf Hitler, masterminded this Night of Broken Glass.