Rather than conducting one central memorial event, Germany this year is seeing smaller commemorations throughout the weekend including striking art projects, Twitter initiatives and silent vigils.
The attacks of November 9 and 10, 1938, saw Nazi thugs plunder Jewish businesses throughout Germany, torch synagogues and round up about 30,000 Jewish men for deportation to concentration camps.
At least 90 Jews were killed in the orgy of violence, also known as 'The Night of Broken Glass', which historians say ushered in the start of the Nazis' drive to wipe out European Jewry.
As part of the unconventional memorials, Berliners and tourists during the day polished around 5,000 "Stolpersteine" memorials for Jews in their neighbourhoods.
The "stumbling blocks" are small plaques bearing the names of Holocaust victims embedded in the street in front of their last known address, along with their dates of birth and facts about their deportation.
"It's sad for me, very, very sad," said Tamar Maier, an Israeli whose family fled Vienna after their business was smashed during Kristallnacht, as she cleaned one of the plaques.
"I think of all these people, who didn't know what was happening... It's simply horrible. And that's why it's very important to remember, it's essential to do so."
