ABSTRACT
Violence started on June 9, 1938, half a year before Kristallnacht, with the destructin of the synagogues in Munich. The process of trying to flee started before the Kristallnacht: after that, it turned into a panic, an unsuccessful run on the consulates to get visas somewhere, anywhere. The so-called law against the hiding of the identity of Jewish businesses of April 22, 1938, was followed on April 26 by an order to register all Jewish businesses worth more than 5000 marks. In October, at the suggestion of the Swiss, Jewish passports were marked with the letter J. In Austria, anti-Jewish actions were much harsher than those against German Jews. The Jewish problem had to be solved coldly, scientifically, with the exercise of terror and brutality hidden from the eyes of the German public. Jewish leadership may have been living for too long a time under illusions; they may have misinterpreted some of the Nazis’ measures.
