On 23 October 1937 60 shops and several private residences were damaged in a Pogrom which followed a speech of the Nazi Party 's Gauleiter of the city , Albert Forster . This caused the flight of about the half of the Jewish community within a year . In 1938 Forster initiated an official policy of repression against Jews ; Jewish businesses were seized and handed over to Gentile Danzigers , Jews were forbidden to attend theaters , cinemas , public baths and swimming pools , or stay in hotels within the city , and , with the approval of the city 's senate , barred from the medical , legal and notary professions . Jews from Zoppot ( Sopot ) were forced to leave that city within the Danzig state territory . The Kristallnacht riots in Germany were followed by similar riots between 12 and 14 November 1938 . The Synagogues in Langfuhr , Mattenbuden , and Zoppot were destroyed and the Great Synagogue was only saved because Jewish war veterans guarded the building
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
History of the Jews in Gdańsk