Fitzgerald, Stephanie. Kristallnacht.

Fitzgerald, Stephanie. Kristallnacht. Capstone/Compass Point  2018 112p $35.99  ISBN 978-0-7565-5583-2     ms   Nonfiction  VG-BNS   series: Eyewitness To World War II 

Middle-school students who are interested in learning more about Kristallnacht and the beginnings of the Holocaust will appreciate this new title in the Eyewitness to World War II series.  The book is written in a story-like fashion with personal quotations and primary sources, and students will gain a better understanding of Kristallnacht, “The Night of Broken Glass". When German Jews were blamed for Germany’s problems, Hitler and the Nazi Party encouraged their private army, known as the Sturmabteilungen or SA, to destroy Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues.  Students read first-hand the devastation this event caused Jews, with more than 8,000 Jewish-owned homes, businesses, and schools destroyed by fire and total destruction and more than 30,000 Jews sent to concentration camps. The author provides readers with insights into Hitler and his power, as well as the conditions in the concentration camps -- the deaths, the discrimination against Jews, and what occurred in the aftermath of Kristallnacht.  Students will empathize with Jews, as these death camps murdered more than six million Jews, or two-thirds of the Jews living in Europe in 1939.

The author includes black-and-white period photographs, personal quotations, maps, primary sources, interesting sidebars, a timeline of events, a glossary of terms, a list of recommended books and websites, critical thinking questions, source notes, a bibliography, and a comprehensive index.  The title would make an excellent addition to a middle-school collection for both reading and history reports.   

Summary: “Recounts the events surrounding the November 1938 attacks in which Nazi troops in Germany and Austria destroyed more than eight thousand Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues, beginning the Nazi's persecution of the Jews.”

Holocaust, World War II, Kristallnacht, 1938      

                                         --Charleen Forba-MacCain