Homelands: Why Did Survival Rates Diverge? Why? By Peter Hayes Homelands: Why Did Survival Rates Diverge?

In German-occupied Europe, Nazi regime made sure people understood the risks of helping Jews. Varieties of Behavior Willingness to give aid was generally rare. Where it did appear, generally had roots in 3 areas: Political Religious Personal Social psychology; studies of rescuers

Examples of Political Motivations of Rescue Foreign diplomats Chiune Sugihara, Japanese diplomat in Kovno, Lithuania Chiune Sugihara

Examples of Religious Motivations of Rescue Minority religious status sometimes fostered identification with Jews Examples: Polish and Ukranian Catholics in Orthodox Ukraine Quakers,Baptists in Germany Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, France Jewish children sheltered by the Protestant population of the village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon

Examples of Personal Motivations of Rescue Oskar Schindler German business owners and managers Otto Weidt, Berlin, Germany Bottom line: Individual heroism could achieve only so much. Museum Blindenwerkstatt Otto Weidt; Workers in the Workshop for the Blind

How and Why Did Survival Rates Diverge? Hayes sorts Nazi-occupied or –allied states in Europe according to 2 characteristics: Whether more or less than 2/3 of Jewish inhabitants were killed in each place Whether under German administration or collaborating government

Patterns Most lethal scenario occurred in countries under German administration However, doesn’t mean there wasn’t local collaboration Examples: Baltic states (local police forces, militias) Lithuanian militiamen in Kovno round up Jews. Kovno, Lithuania, 1941.

Conversely… Lower death rates under collaborating governments did not mean citizens didn’t persecute Jews. Examples: Vichy, France, Hungary, Romania Vel' d'Hiv Roundup La Rafle; July 1942

Decisive Variable Time frame of 1941-42 If Nazis attacked resident Jews in 1941-42 in areas under German administration, could mobilize in full force. Where local administrations remained in place, Germans preferred to let native antisemitism run its course and focus on larger Jewish populations elsewhere.

Decisive Variable By late 1942, tide of war was turning Battles of El Alamein and Stalingrad, 1942-43 Affiliated governments began to realize that Germany might not win the war.

“Hinge of fate…” -Winston Churchill One chief determinant of varying rates of survival: Whether Jews in an area were still alive by the time of El Alamein and Stalingrad Assault units of the 62nd Soviet army battle the Germans in Stalingrad.

National Interests Nationalist aspirations: Baltics, Ukraine Germans came as potential liberators from Soviet occupation To Jews, Soviet occupation seemed the lesser of 2 evils.

National Interests With Germany on offensive, no shortage of willing local volunteers Babi Yar, Ukraine; Sept. 1941 Lithuanian police/militias Members of a Lithuanian militia unit force a group of Jewish women from Panevezys to undress.

Other Motivations Plunder and opportunities to gain “For the Germans 300 Jews are 300 enemies of humanity; for the Lithuanians they are 300 pairs of shoes, trousers, and the like.” - Pole who lived outside Vilna A member of the Lithuanian auxillary police, who has just returned from taking part in the mass execution of the local Jewish population in the Rase Forest.

Policy Distinctions In countries allied with Germany - Foreign-born Jews subjects of deportation - More resistant to giving up native-born citizens Example: More Polish Jews who sought refuge in France died at Nazi hands than French Jews.

German Allies in Southeastern Europe Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania All 3 agreed to hand over Jews in lands acquired from neighboring countries 1938-1941

Bulgaria Promised to begin deportations in 1943 Bought time by conscripting Bulgarian Jews for work in countryside Nearly all Bulgarian Jews survived because Germany didn’t occupy the country. Bulgarian Jews dig a road in a forced labor brigade.

Hungary Germany occupied country in March 1944 Very little opposition to deportations

Hungary 55 days (May 15-July 9) 147 trains; 3-6 per day 437,000 Hungarian Jews deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau Of these, 25% selected for slave labor Jews from Subcarpathian Rus (then part of Hungary) undergo a selection on the ramp

Hungary Round-ups in Hungary largely home-grown and very thorough Netted 97% of Jews in Hungarian countryside, annexed areas Only 150-200 German SS personnel involved in round-ups Deportation of Hungarian Jews. Koszeg, Hungary, May 1944.

How to Explain Hungary? 1. 1944 – Germany could focus it’s efforts. 2. Deportations had war-related purpose; German need for slave-labor 3. History of antisemitism in Hungary

Romania 1940- lost provinces of Bukovina, Bessarabia to Soviet Union; northern Transylvania to Hungary Late 1940- joined Axis alliance Antonescu, Iron Guard Adolf Hitler shakes hands with Prime Minister of Romania Ion Antonescu.

Romania June 1941 – joined in German invasion of Soviet Union Iasi pogrom; June 1941 Re-gained Bessarabia, Bukovina; gained Transnistria Deported, massacred thousands of Jews in these provinces

Romania Systematic shootings, marched into Transnistria, ghettos Romania became German ally that killed largest # of Jews (Bukovina, Bessarabia, Transnistria) The Jewish residents of a village in Bessarabia are held before their deportation to Transnistria.

Romania 1942- Germany wanted Jews from core provinces of Romania Antonescu stalled for time Irony: nation next to Germany that killed largest # of Jews was also nation that had largest surviving Jewish population in Europe. 80% of Jews in Bukovina, Bessarabia, Transnistria killed by Romanians; 80% in core provinces survived

Poland “Epicenter of the Holocaust” Perceptions: Non-Jewish Poles did little to help, even favored outcome Suffering of Poles and heroic resistance to Nazis Competing claims to suffering A Polish priest, Father Piotr Sosnowski, before his execution by German Security Police.

Poland Antisemitism was considerable before 1939 and on the rise. - pogroms - discriminatory policies Prewar photograph of an extended Jewish family in Krakow gathered around a table for a family celebration.

Poland Jews and Poles tended to live as separate ethnic communities. 12% of Polish Jews saw Polish as their native language. First graduation ceremony of the Vilner Lerer Seminar (Yiddish Teachers' Seminary) taken in Wieliczka, Poland.

Poland Politics divided Jews and Poles. Judeo-Bolshevism Most Poles believed Jews were pro-Communist. Home Army Blue Police German incentives to turn in Jews Death Penalty for Aiding Jews. Handbill in German and Polish issued by the SS and Police leader in the Warsaw district.

Poland Polish resistance did little to help Poland’s Jews, even though it was fully informed. German soldiers direct artillery against a pocket of resistance during the Warsaw ghetto uprising. Warsaw.

Poland Because there were more Jews in Poland than anywhere else, more people stood to gain from their disappearance. Non-Jews were tempted to exploit the plight of ghettoized Jewish families; Przemysl, Poland July 1941-July 1942.

Poland Antisemitism in Poland outlasted the Holocaust and continued afterward. Pogroms Many rescuers wanted to remain anonymous. Mourners and local residents watch as pallbearers place the coffins of the victims of the Kielce pogrom; 1946.

Poland More Poles are commemorated at Yad Vashem for saving Jews than any other nationality.