Excerpt from Safe Passage by Ida Cook

..."In November, 1938, the first great concerted drive against the Jews began. This was sparked off by an event in Paris: a young German Jew shot an official at the German embassy. It was said that his parents had been ill-treated by the Geastapo, that his mind became unhinged and that he had shot the first German official he saw. Another story, told to us in Germany, was that the whole thing was a put-up job to inflame feelings against the Jews....True or false, this incident signalled the launching of the greatest pogroms in history. From that day, and for years to come, wave after wave of murder washed in a ghastly tide tide across Europe, until something like six million unfortunates had perished."

From Safe Passage, p. 115, by Ida Cook