A remarkable story of a forgotten seventeen-year-old Jew who was blamed by the Nazis for the
anti-Semitic violence and terror known as the Kristallnacht the pogrom still seen as an
initiating event of the Holocaust After learning about Nazi persecution of his family Herschel
Grynszpan an impoverished seventeen-year-old Jew living in Paris bought a small handgun and
on November 7 1938 went to the German embassy and shot the first German diplomat he saw. When
the man died two days later Hitler and Goebbels made the shooting their pretext for the great
state-sponsored wave of anti-Semitic terror known as Kristallnacht still seen by many as an
initiating event of the Holocaust. Overnight Grynszpan a bright but naive teenager--and a
perfect political nobody--was front-page news and a pawn in a global power struggle. When
France fell the Nazis captured Grynszpan after a wild chase and flew him to Berlin. The boy
became a privileged prisoner of the Gestapo while Hitler and Goebbels plotted a massive show
trial to blame the Jews for starting World War II. A prisoner and alone Grynszpan grasped
Hitler's intentions and waged a battle of wits to sabotage the trial knowing that even if he
succeeded he would certainly be murdered. The battle of wits was close but Grynszpan finally
won. Based on the newest research Hitler's Pawn is the richest telling of Grynszpan's story to
date.
