Citation

Shasha SM, Eithan A, Feinsod M, Georg M W. Harefuah 2013; 152(11): 667-70, 687.

Affiliation

Wolper Jewish Hospital, Sydney, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Israel Medical Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

24416826

Abstract

On the morning of November 7, 1938 vom Rath, a diplomat at the German embassy in Paris, was shot by Herschel Grynzspan, a Jewish teenager. Of the 5 shots fired, 2 hit vom Rath, one in the right shoulder and one in the abdomen. He was rushed to Alma Women's Hospital near the embassy, where emergency surgery was undertaken. Two days later his condition deteriorated rapidly and succumbed 55 hours after the shooting. It is believed that the assassination triggered the "Kristallnacht"--the organized Nazi pogrom against Jews across Germany. Based on the Alma hospital registry, autopsy findings and articles from recent years, the course of his condition and possible cause of his death are discussed. The possibility of malpractice, and even medical fraud, which led to his death are also mentioned.

Language: he