[swarthyguy]

Didn't most German Jews considered themselves German first? Yes, Goering apparently saved some favorites of his. -- so it was more of an economic grab then? Your post makes the hatred of the jews even more unfathomable. Which i suppose is one of the history's mysteries.

[aristeides]

I think Marduk minimizes the extent of the Jew-hatred. Hitler really hated Jews, profoundly, perhaps partly because he feared he was himself part-Jewish (the latest view is that that fear was mistaken -- I have not investigated the matter enough to have an opinion.) But he faced bureaucratic opposition in enforcing that hatred. Bureaucracies like the German military and somewhat less fanatical Nazis like Göring were able to prevent the application of that hatred in some cases.

[LarryLied]

the hatred of the jews even more unfathomable. Which i suppose is one of the history's mysteries.

While some animosity always existed, in Germany, the barbarity of it was due to many Jews being seen to be on the communist side in the fascist/communist conflict. Had the communist won power in Germany, Christians would have been wiped out as they were in the Ukraine a decade before the Jewish Holocaust started.

[Marduk]

"Didn't most German Jews considered themselves German first? Yes, Goering apparently saved some favorites of his. -- so it was more of an economic grab then? Your post makes the hatred of the jews even more unfathomable. Which i suppose is one of the history's mysteries."

I cannot say how much the German Jews thought of themselves as German.

One of the reasons the Jews were hated was the Jewish involvement in Communism in Central and Eastern Europe at the time. Jews often made up over 30% of the NKVD units in the USSR (http://www.ukar.org/shapov01.shtml). And it was NKVD units that committed most atrocities and mass murders of Christians. This is why the East Europeans welcomed the Germans as liberators. The Germans knew this and the East Europeans knew this. The American people didn't know it and most Americans still don't know it. The Nazi persecution of the Jews was a mystery to me until I learned of the role that Jews played in Communism.