The source relating to Kristallnacht is an article from the Science History Institute’s website written by Mier Rinde. The text is titled “A History of Violence”, and the author discusses the events preceding Kristallnacht using the example of a well-known physician Paul Ehrlich and the institutional nationalism in the 1930s and 1940s Germany. In this speech, the issue of devastating consequences that political power may have will be discussed.
The term “Kristallnacht” can be translated from Germa as “Night of Broken Glass.” On November 9 and 10th of 1938, the Germans destroyed the homes and businesses of Jewish citizens. Nuremberg was one of the cities where so-called “brownshirts,” a paramilitary Nazi organization raided the homes of Jewish citizens. The article by Rinde reveals the story of Ehrlich, who was Jewish, and due to the anti-Semitic political and social attitudes “he was denied full credit for helping develop a diphtheria serum at the CharitĂ© hospital in Berlin” (para. 3). Due to the fact that he refused to convert to Christianity, Ehrlich faced difficulties in his career.
This source describes how another Jewish physician, Adolf Dessauer, ordered Ehrlich’s portrait in 1927 as a symbol of recognising the latter’s achievement. This painting, along with Dessauer’s other belongings, was destroyed when the brown shirts began raiding his family home. Moreover, Dessauer had to give all his savings to the paramilitary that day (Rinde, 2017). Later that day, when the police arrived, his family was too afraid to write a complaint. Kristallnacht is one example of how the political power of the Nazis had detrimental consequences â the Jewish people were oppressed and later brutally murdered. Overall, Kristallnacht was a coordinated action of attacks against Jewish citizens in different parts of Germany.
The article “A History of Violence” by Rinde is a description of historical events that happened in 1938 in Germany. The text refers to the events of Kristallnacht as well as some institutionalized oppression that was prevalent in Nazi Germany. This paper will analyses the reliability, usefulness and bias of âA History of Violence” as part of the source evaluation process.
Firstly, the reliability of this source is moderate because of the medium where it was published. This source is not a peer-reviewed article, although it was published in a scientific journal that focuses on history. Despite the author citing correct dates, there are no references to primary sources. Hence, this is not the most reliable source, and a peer-reviewed article in a history-related journal would be more reliable.
Next, in terms of usefulness, Rindeâs text highlights the consequences of detrimental political power that Jewish people experienced, using examples of Elrich and Dessauer. Despite some reliability issues, this source is very useful, since it provides an outline of one manâs experience of Kristallnacht. This information is extremely useful because it allows one to perceive the horrific events and political attitudes that were prevalent in the 1930s and 1940s more comprehensively. Thirdly, the perspective of this source can be described as a modern-day outlook on the horrors that the Jewish people experienced in the 1930s and 1940s.
Finally, similarly to the reliability issues, it is possible to question the author’s unbiased opinion, since the article lacks references to primary sources of information. However, the Rinde (2017) does not express any direct judgments towards each side or personal opinions of the events. Overall, although Rinde’s article is not peer-reviewed, there is no bias, and the author presents the events from a modern-day point of view making this source a good text for understanding the events of Kristallnacht.
Reference
Rinde, M. (2017). A history of violence.Science History Institute. Web.