KAN 11 Broadcasts Expanded Documentary on Herschel Grynszpan Mystery
A two-part version of the award-winning film Proud Jewish Boy airs November 7 and 9, offering new details on the 1938 assassination that precipitated Kristallnacht.
By Matthew Brooks ·
An expanded two-part version of the documentary Proud Jewish Boy airs on KAN 11 on November 7 and November 9. The broadcast coincides with the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the 1938 pogrom that marked the beginning of the Holocaust and remains central to the film’s narrative.
Directed by Isri Halpern, the documentary investigates the life and death of Herschel Grynszpan, a 17-year-old Jewish refugee who assassinated German diplomat Ernst vom Rath in Paris in 1938. The Nazis used the shooting as a pretext for Kristallnacht, yet the fate of Grynszpan after his arrest has remained obscure in historical accounts.
Grynszpan was born in Hanover in 1921 to Polish Jewish parents who lived in Germany for decades without citizenship. In October 1938, the German government expelled more than 17,000 Polish Jews, stranding Grynszpan’s parents in the border town of Zbaszyn. Stateless and living illegally in Paris, Grynszpan entered the German Embassy and shot vom Rath, who died two days later. He did not resist arrest and was held in a French prison until France fell to the Nazis in 1940.
German authorities initially planned a high-profile show trial to cement Grynszpan in antisemitic mythology. However, documents discovered years later suggest Grynszpan told interrogators he had a sexual relationship with vom Rath. This revelation likely embarrassed the regime and contributed to the cancellation of the public trial. Grynszpan then disappeared into the Nazi prison system, and his exact manner of death remains unknown.
Halpern noted in an interview that while the precise cause of Grynszpan’s death is unclear, the reason people stopped asking is known. Because few photographs of Grynszpan exist, the film features original drawings by artists David Polonsky and Michael Faust. Both artists are known for their work on Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir and Gidi Dar’s Legend of Destruction.
The new broadcast extends the original runtime to provide additional detail on key events, particularly the decision to cancel the show trial. The documentary previously received the Best Israeli Documentary Award at the Haifa International Film Festival last year. Viewers interested in the history of the period will find the extended episodes offer a more thorough examination of the case.
