Kristallnacht, or “Night of Broken Glass” as it became known, refers to a series of violent attacks between Nov. 8 and 9, 1938 against Jews. Synagogues, homes and Jewish-owned businesses were targeted during the attack. It began when a German diplomat, Ernst nom Rath, was shot by a 17-year-old Polish Jew whose parents were expelled from Poland and forced to live in a refugee camp. Nazi’s used vom Rath’s death to set off the Kristallnacht pogroms.