BULLITT REPORTS NAZIS INSIDE PARIS GATES; REYNAUD ASKS U.S. FOR ‘CLOUDS OF PLANES’ (6/14/40)

Microfiche-New York Times archives, McHenry Library, U.C. Santa Cruz | 6/14/40 | G.H. Archambault, P.J. Philip, C. Brooks Peters, Hanson W. Baldwin

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[BroJoeK]

"I sometimes wonder how many more could have been saved if they had loosened up their policy in Palestine. Would one of these Eastern European countries attempted to evacuate their Jews to Palestine like the Danes did to Sweden?"

Here is a table of Jewish Holocaust deaths by country.

Note that those countries with the highest percentages were also under the tightest Nazi control -- i.e., Poland, Baltic Countries, Germany itself.

Countries which maintained a smidgen of independence often used that to protect at least some of their Jewish populations -- i.e., France & Italy.

Remember, Nazi policy itself had originally contemplated shipping Jews to Palestine. But after Adolf Eichmann's visit to Palestine and Egypt in 1937, that idea was abandoned. Instead, Nazis allied with anti-Zionist Muslims who later supplied divisions for the SS.

Indeed, it was precisely fear of Muslim violence which kept in place Britain's strict immigration limits on Jews to Palestine.

The irony, of course, is that even though Britain tried its best to appease Muslims by punishing Jews, many Muslims still allied themselves with, and fought for the National Socialists -- an alliance which largely remains in place today.
Different actors now, same play...

My point here is, in answer to your question above: reviewing the list of Holocaust countries, which do you suppose might have sent more Jews to Palestine and fewer to death camps, had that option even been available?

[CougarGA7]

Certainly any thoughts on how many may have been saved is pure speculation. Hungary is a particular point of interest here since it was not until the Germans took over their government to keep them from turning like Rumania that there was a big push to exterminate the Jews there. The sudden influx of victims in the death camps was extreme. Auschwitz, for example, could no longer keep up with the number of dead in their crematoriums and were forced to create open fire pits to keep up with the demand.

Prior to the Wannsee Conference, Madagascar was still on the table. The Nazi’s would have been content to ship them all off to this island, but it never became practical since they never had control of the seas. Madagascar was invaded and occupied during the Second World War, but ironically it was not by the Germans or even about the Germans. The British occupied the island because they believed that the Japanese were going to invade the island in a move to dominate the Indian Ocean.

[BroJoeK]

"Prior to the Wannsee Conference, Madagascar was still on the table."

I agree that before the Nazis decided on their "Final Solution," they considered any number of less drastic options, including Madagascar and before that, Palestine.
Each was in turn rejected for one or more practical reasons.
Having rejected all others, and flush with victory on all fronts by 1941, the Nazis chose what seemed to them the simplest long-term Final Solution.

The question is whether a different British policy towards Jewish immigration to Palestine might have saved the lives of more Jews?
Indeed, it might have, but we should also consider other factors:

• Many Jews were able to sneak into Palestine despite British restrictions. If I remember correctly, a certain Bishop Roncalli in Turkey was involved in these rescues...

• But just suppose, for sake of argument, that the Brits had said to Eastern European countries: send all your Jews to Palestine, we'll take them all.
  And suppose this had ignited a revolt of Arabs and other Muslims against the Brits.
  And suppose this had the effect of opening a second front against British forces in North Africa.
  What chances then would the Brits have of stopping Erwin Rommel's Africa Corps from reaching its destination in Middle Eastern oil fields?

  And then how many Jews in Palestine would have survived Nazi occupation of that country?

Of course we can't answer those questions, but that's what the Brits feared, and it's why they kept restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine.