In November 1938 , the German diplomat Ernst vom Rath was killed in Paris by a young Jewish man . In response , Goebbels arranged for inflammatory antisemitic material to be released by the press , and the result was the start of a pogrom . Jews were attacked and synagogues destroyed all over Germany . The situation was further inflamed by a speech Goebbels gave at a party meeting on the night of 8 November , where he obliquely called for party members to incite further violence against Jews while making it appear to be a spontaneous series of acts by the German people . At least a hundred Jews were killed , several hundred synagogues were damaged or destroyed , and thousands of Jewish shops were vandalised in an event called '' Kristallnacht '' ( Night of Broken Glass ) . Around 30,000 Jewish men were sent to concentration camps . The destruction stopped after a conference held on 12 November , where Göring pointed out that the destruction of Jewish property was in effect the destruction of German property , since the intention was that it would all eventually be confiscated
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
Joseph Goebbels