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this post was submitted on 28 May 2024
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Why did Germany kill more Polish Jews (by percentage) than its own German Jews? Were they just part of the war machine and weren’t deemed as “enemies” yes?
My take, as a German, without looking up the historic consensus: In Germany the oppression against Jews gradually increased from 1933 until WWII started in 1939. This gave many the opportunity to emigrate. In Eastern Europe, Germany quickly invaded („Blitzkrieg“) and immediately stated rallying the Jews into ghettos and started murdering them. There was no real chance to emigrate or flee.
Edit: a typo
Definitely makes sense! Thanks for the response!
The pattern I see here, I think, relates to how much advanced warning the Jews of a country got
If you're a German Jew in 1933, you're under a government that openly exists to destroy you, and still have years to GTFO before it's cattle car time. Similarly, in the USSR they didn't show up until shit was pretty real, so you can maybe prepare somehow or head East (depending on how Stalin feels about it). Meanwhile, Central Europe and the Netherlands went down relatively suddenly.
Maybe you'd hope Jews in 1937 Austria or Czechoslovakia would see the writing on the wall, but in practice normalcy bias is strong, then just as now.