Ernst vom Rath

Ernst Eduard vom Rath (June 3, 1909–November 9, 1938) was a German diplomat. He is most noted for his assassination in Paris in 1938 by a Jewish youth, Herschel Grynszpan. The assassination triggered Kristallnacht, the "Night of Broken Glass".

Early life and career

Vom Rath was born in Frankfurt am Main, the son of a high-ranking public official. He attended a school in Breslau, and then studied law at Bonn, Munich and Königsberg, until 1932, when he joined the Nazi Party and became a career diplomat. In April 1933 he became a member of the SA, the party paramilitary. Schwab, Gerald, "The Day the Holocaust Began: The Odyssey of Herschel Grynszpan", Praeger, New York, 1990, pp.14; 142, 186] In 1935, after a posting in Bucharest, he was posted to the German embassy in Paris.

Assassination

In November 1938, vom Rath was fatally shot by a 17-year-old Jewish youth, Herschel Grynszpan, who had fled from Germany to France. The reason Grynszpan chose vom Rath as his victim is not known with certainty, but was probably angry over news that his family was being deported from Germany to Poland. Rath survived the initial attack, but died of his wounds after two days. The anti-Semitic violence of Kristallnacht was launched immeditately after his death.

Aftermath

After the killing there were claims that vom Rath was a homosexual, and that Grynszpan was intending to use this claim in his defence at the trial by implying that Rath had seduced him. Goebbels had been intending to turn the trial into Nazi propaganda about Jewish conspiracy, but the homosexuality accusations threatened to humiliate the Nazis. Goebbels wrote that "Grynszpan has invented the insolent argument that he had a homosexual relationship with... vom Rath. That is, of course, a shameless lie; however it is thought out very cleverly and would, if brought out in the course of a public trial, certainly become the main argument of enemy propaganda." Whether or not Rath was homosexual is not known. His brother was convicted of homosexual offences and there were allegations that vom Rath was treated for rectal gonorrhoea at the Berlin Institute of Radiology.citation |page=373, note 531 |title=A history of homosexuality in Europe: Volume 1 & 2: Berlin, London, Paris - 1919-1939 |first=Florence |last=Tamagne |publisher=Algora Publishing |isbn=0875863574] As a result of the potential embarrassment the trial was indefinitely postponed.

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