in 1938 a 17 year old jewish boy hershel grynspan, who lived in paris, desperately wanted to attack the nazis because of the cruel way his parents in germany had been treated. he therefore murdered a nazi diplomat in france. the nazi’s in germany were so furious that they attacked and murdered lots of jews in germany. this terrible attack became known as the "kristallnacht". this series of events can be found in the words of tippett’s oratorio. tippett wrote the words himself.