kristallnacht or the night of broken glass refers to jewish pogroms that took place on november 9 and 10 in 1938. this wave of violence took place in germany, annexed austria, and areas of sudetenland that were occupied by germany. these attacks took place against synagogues, jewish-owned businesses, other jewish establishments, and jewish citizens in general. more than 100 jewish people were killed, and thousands more were arrested during these attacks. this was also the start to organized nazi attacks, and the mass incarceration of the jews. there was no clear instructions on how to execute the violence, so it caused the destroying of jewish property and inhumane treatment of jewish people. the rioters destroyed 267 synagogues throughout germany, austria, and sudetenland. firefighters were instructed to prevent the flames from spreading to nearby buildings, but not to put the fires out on the burning synagogues. there was also about 7,500 jewish-owned establishments that were robbed and had their windows shattered. about 30,000 jewish men were arrested and moved to prisons or concentration camps as well. what made things even worse is the fact that the german government placed full blame on the jews for the destructions and imposed a fine of one billion reichsmark on the jewish community. the government also took away all insurance payouts that would go to the jews whose businesses or homes got destroyed. this left the jews responsible for the costs of all repairs.