Herschel Grynszpan

Herschel Faibel Grynszpan (March 28th, 1921 - ) was born in Hannover, Germany, of Polish parents who had earlier been Russian citizens. At the age of 15, he left Germany to escape Jewish persecution and went to live with his aunt Chawa and uncle Abraham Grynszpan in Paris.

Because his parents had been evicted from Germany and forced to walk to Poland, he bought a gun and shot Ernst vom Rath, the attaché to the German Embassy in Paris. He died from his injuries on November 9th, 1938.

The Nazis used this as an excuse to unleash the pogrom known as Kristallnacht on November 9th / 10th.

Herschel Grynszpan spent 20 months in prison. After the Germans entered France, he was taken to Sachsenhausen concentration camp outside Berlin and was held there until 1942 when he vanished.