herschel grynszpan (sometimes also spelled "grünspan"), a 17-year-old jew living in paris, learned that his whole family had been made to go back to zsbaszyn in poland, even though the younger children had been born in germany. he got a gun, and with this he fired shots at ernst eduard vom rath, who was a secretary of the german embassy in paris. this was on 7 november. vom rath died of his wounds on 9 november.