World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseErnst Eduard vom Rath was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany to a government official. After studying at Breslau, he went to law school in Bonn, Munich, and Königsberg. He joined the Nazi Party in 1932 and joined the SA organization in 1933. Working in the government as a diplomat, he was first posted to Bucharest, Romania then to Paris, France. On 7 Nov 1938, the German Embassy in Paris was visited by a young Jewish man named Herschel Grynszpan, who asked to see a member of the staff. When Rath answered the call, he was shot by Grynszpan with a revolver three times in the abdomen; Grynszpan remained on the scene to be arrested, admitting that he had committed the crime due to his frustration that he could not do anything to aid the helpless Polish-German Jews being forcefully deported, which included his parents and sister. Rath died of the wounds two days later. His death gave the Nazi propaganda machine an excuse to launch a nation-wide demonstration against Jews, which, as planned by top Nazi Party leadership, turned violent, and was later called Kristallnacht, or the "Crystal Night" or "Night of the Broken Glass".

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Ernst vom Rath Timeline

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