“Extermination vs “not liking” the new government? You would equate those as equal drivers?”
No, and that’s why stated when Hitler took power (twice). He NEVER talked about extermination of Jews early on (and I don’t think he even did when he was doing it, due to the obvious political fallout), and my understanding was that he had no desire to do so, until late in the war when he felt (wrongly) that he had no other option. If he wanted extermination 10+ years earlier, at the start of his reign, he could have easily done it - but he did not - he just wanted them separated and, ideally, gone from his country.
I’m not able to speak to the timeline as much as I wish I
were able to right now.
I think there were some pretty clear indications of where
Hitler was going, blaming the Jewish community of many
things holding Germany back.
Did the people in Crimea see the new leadership in Kiev
as capable of this sort of thing? Were they really that
paranoid regarding the new leadership?
I have a very hard time buying into that.
I can’t definitively refute what you’re saying, but it
just doesn’t sound right to me.
Thanks for the discussion on these matters.