In Leipzig, as in other German cities, Jews and Jewish institutions suffered from attacks during the events called Kristallnacht, from November 9–10, 1938. Kristallnacht took its name because of all of the shattered glass from destroyed synagogues, Jewish-owned stores, Jewish-owned homes, schools, and Jewish-owned artifacts. The violence and destruction was carried out by members of the Sturmabteilung (SA), Schutzstaffel (SS), Gestapo, as well as German civilians. German and Nazi officials, along with standard civilians, watched as Jewish property in Leipzig turned to ash. The pogrom affected Jewish men, women, and children in Leipzig and other parts of Germany. There were more foreign-born Jews present in Leipzig than the majority of cities in Germany, and this made conditions for Leipzig Jews worse. Harsh conditions towards Jews in Leipzig began earlier than Kristallnacht because of this, and made Kristallnacht especially harmful. Kristallnacht destroyed much of the Jewish life in Leipzig. The events of Kristallnacht in Leipzig were described by United States Consul David H. Buffum, who reported what he saw to the State Department and published his 16-page report, Anti-semitic Onslaught in Germany as Seen from Leipzig, shortly after the events. A five-page excerpt from his report was published in the Nuremberg Trial documents and was subsequently quoted at length in several English-language source collections on German history.
Destruction by fire
In the early morning of November 9, 1938, Nazi party Kreisleiter, Ernst Wettengel, commanded the Leipzig SA to instigate a pogrom ordered by the Nazi national party. By 3:51 am that day, SA members dressed in regular clothes, had put the Gemeinde synagogue in the town of Gottschedstraße in flames.
Still in the morning, the Ez-Chaim synagogue, the Bamberger and Hertz department store, the Ury's department store, the Höhere Israelitische Schule, and the chapel at the Jewish cemetery were all defiled in flames. The Leipzig fire department listed the causes of all the fires to be "unknown", and only attempted to prevent the spreading of the fires in order to protect gentile property. The Nazi officials ordered the fire department and police to only aim to protect gentile property.
In the afternoon, two Jewish cafes were attacked, but no one was injured because they were tipped off by circulating rumors.
At night, the buildings on the land of the new Jewish cemetery in Delitzscher Landstraße were set on fire. Three synagogues in Leipzig suffered damage from incendiary bombs. All of the sacred artifacts and records were desecrated, and in many cases thrown onto the street to be burned. The living quarters were completely destroyed, and the large and small cemetery halls were burnt down. Black flames were one of the biggest attractions for baffled crowds in Leipzig. While the loss of goods was substantial, it was second to the destruction of property.
Many Jews were forced to clean up the damage from the burnt buildings.
Destruction by hand
Partakers in the pogrom smashed Jewish shop windows by the hundreds. Jewish homes and synagogues were also torn apart in search of valuables, and so Nazis could achieve the joy of ruining a Jew's home. Raiders of synagogues took files and scrolls, silver shields from the Torah, and some bells and coins. Families reported the loss of jewelry, silver, decorations, furniture, and cash from their homes. In one of the Jewish sections of Leipzig, and eighteen-year-old boy was thrown from his own three-story apartment. He landed on a street filled with burning furniture from his and his neighbors’ apartments, and both of his legs broke. A Jewish family's dog was also thrown from a four-story apartment, and broke its spine. The Nazi officers disinterred ten corpses at the Jewish cemetery in Delitzscher, and left them unburied while arresting the gravediggers and cemetery attendants. During the first night of Kristallnacht, 193 businesses, 34 private homes, 3 synagogues, 4 smaller temples, the cemetery chapel, and the Ariowitsch old age home were destroyed. The damage to Leipzig cost several million marks.
Arrests
Nazi propaganda and anti-Semitic acts became much more frequent and severe during and after Kristallnacht.