and prohibited the Jews to employ female Aryans under the age of 45. On 8 April 1938, the Jewish cattle traders were allocated a separate part on the weekly cattle market and as of 1 January 1939 the licences for Jewish cattle trader were permanently revoked. From June onwards, all Jewish businesses had to be visibly marked. In July, Jewish physicians were struck off the medical register. In September, the permission of Jewish members of the legal profession to practice law was cancelled. There were further restrictions and harassment in the same year such as the adding of Sara and Israel respectively to non-Jewish first names, the confiscating and re-issuing of passports after a large J was added. However, many Jews clung to the businesses their ancestors had established and hoped that by keeping a low profile they could weather the storm. A record from July 1938, shows that there still existed 45 businesses run by Jews in Laupheim. The assassination of Ernst vom Rath, Third Secretary of the German Embassy in Paris, by Herschel Grynszpan served as a pretext for a nationwide pogrom against Jews throughout Germany and Austria on the night of 9–10 November 1938, colloquially known as Kristallnacht. In Laupheim, Jewish shops were vandalised and the synagogue was burnt to the ground. The fire-brigade was prevented by locals from extinguishing the fire. A number of Jewish inhabitants were arrested and transported to the town hall. From there, they were marched to the burning synagogue, escorted by members of the Nazi-party, where they had to listen to a diatribe by a SA-leader, after which they were forced to carry out physical exercises in front of the burning building during which several of them were physically assaulted and injured. Afterwards, some of them were released, whereas the more prominent Jews were transported to the concentration camp Dachau. One, Sigmund Laupheimer, was beaten to death by SS guards during his confinement there. By February 1939 16 of the imprisoned men had been released. The main perpetrators, were never brought to justice as they were either killed during the war or missing in action. 16 locals, however, were tried in 1948. All of them claimed that they were acting under orders. Four of them were acquitted whereas the twelve others were sentenced to prison terms ranging between two months and one year for crimes against humanity and being accessory to arson.