Shattered Objects, Shattered Spaces
The Destruction of Jewish Homes in the November Pogroms of 1938
The November Pogroms of 1938 marked a critical escalation in the persecution of Jews in National Socialist Germany. While the destruction of synagogues and businesses has been widely studied, targeted violence against private Jewish homes remains under-researched. This project addresses that gap by investigating the deliberate and systematic destruction of domestic spaces during the pogroms.
Based primarily on survivor accounts, the study examines how violence entered domestic spaces and how Jewish individuals and families experienced this targeted assault on their homes. My focus is on the practice of violence within private spaces, its long-term consequences for those affected, and the pogrom’s significance as a turning point in the escalation of National Socialist persecution.
The central research questions are: How did the violent, systematic destruction of Jewish private homes and personal belongings during the November Pogroms affect Jewish individuals and families? What does this reveal about the nature of antisemitic pogrom violence in private spaces?
This project draws on the theoretical intersection of material culture, spatial history, and violence studies. A central aspect of the research is the relationship between space and objects within Jewish homes, exploring the meaning of ownership, the loss of belongings, and the psychological and social rupture this caused. The destruction of furniture, religious artifacts, and everyday objects was not incidental, but rather a core element of the violence — a material and symbolic attack on identity and belonging.
Rather than viewing the home merely as a site of pogrom violence, this research highlights its key significance for the individual as a place of privacy, rest, and belonging. It argues that violence against domestic space cannot be separated from violence against individuals: by destroying the objects that shaped everyday life, perpetrators aimed to destabilize the foundations of Jewish existence.
