The ultimate goal of Adolf Hitler regarding the Jews in Europe was to remove them. His initial plan was not to kill them but to have them resettled in another place, Madagascar, where they could not “disturb” German success. While this already radical plan was clearly further radicalized into the eventual systematic murder of the Jewish people in Europe, his original plan has uncanny similarities to the eventual creation of the Jewish State known as Israel.
It is important to take note that this was an inexplicably confusing and devastating situation for all of the refugees involved. There were a vast amount of people in war torn Europe that were considered refugees in their own countries (much like the German Jewish refugees in the picture below). This created an environment that the world had never seen before, at least on such a large scale. As a result many had no clue how to handle this situation and it resulted in the eventual emphasis of the Zionist movement.
This picture depicts German Jewish refugees in post-war Germany
Following the Second World War many believed that “Jewish refugees could not conceivably be resettled in Germany” (Cohen 4). While this certainly had a level of merit, as many Jewish refugees had no desire to resettle in “the land of their former tormentors” (Cohen 3) it also in a way completed Hitler’s vision. Hitler desired an ethnically homogeneous Europe and while this homogenization was now in a way self-determined it remained homogenization nonetheless.
However, it could also be said that many Jews have always thought of themselves as a separate group. According to Cohen’s chapter Extraterritorial Jews, “since the beginning of the twentieth century […] Yiddish speaking Jews formed a separate national-cultural entity” (Cohen 3). In this way the Nazi party may not have created these desires, however it is undeniable that the Holocaust increased these wishes. As Cohen states ““the consciousness of nationality within European Jewry [was] more widespread and perhaps even more intense than before” (Cohen 4). Meaning that Hitler succeeded in causing the Jews to feel out of place in Europe and seek out a new homeland.
In Extraterritorial Jews, it is stated that Jews had “to migrate, because they were ousted from their homes and driven to different localities” (Cohen 6). In this way their autonomy is removed and it is unfortunately demonstrated that Hitler succeeded in isolating and eliminating Jewish ties to Europe. This quote implies that following the Holocaust Jews had no choice but to leave. Similarly, Cohen also states that, “while admittedly it is not normally desirable to set aside particular racial or religious groups from their nationality categories, the plain truth is that this was done for so long by the Nazis that a group has been created which has special needs” (Cohen 11). This quote once again explains that Hitler and the Nazi party undoubtedly separated European Jews from their nationalities and this division necessitated treating them as a separate group. Thus Jews were no longer German, Polish or Austrian they were Jewish and were being moved out of Europe, which was Hitler’s goal.
However, it is important to note that while the ends were in a way the same, the way this end was obtained was drastically different. This is extremely important, although the Jews ultimately migrated to Palestine there they obtained the autonomy and relative safety they desired. Their fate was and still is in their own hands. Following the “international recognition of the existence of the Jewish people and of its right to national life in Palestine” (Cohen 25), the Jewish community obtained the place in world politics and influence they needed.
If one looks at Hitler’s intention as simply removing Jews from Europe than he was successful. Though as German development was stopped the attempt was meaningless. Perhaps if Hitler made better use of his Jewish citizen things would have gone differently.
Christopher Jackson
To what extant was the fate of the Jewish people really in their hands? To me it seems that the Jews were often forced into situations which left them no other choice than to emigrate to Palestine in the first place, but with the help of a few, (Zionists), the Jewish state was able to form despite the majority’s fate of being dislocated.
This was a really interesting and unique perspective on the immigration of the Jews to Palestine. I had never seen it like this. The horrors of the Holocaust left many without homes, families, or other options, so one could view this immigration as an extension of Hitler’s final solution.
I like the point you make at the end of your post saying that the Nazis were responsible for separating the European Jews from their nationalities. I find it interesting because we discussed in class how being Jewish could be a cultural or a religious identity. Your points makes me curious if the Nazis separating them from their nationality fed into the creation of the Jewish cultural identity as opposed to the religious identity.
I found your blog post to be interesting an informative. You took a different perceptive when writing about the articles. I think to some extend Hitler did succeed in the fact that he did remove jewish people from Europe. But it is well known that that was not the entire mission. So I would say Hitler did not succeed.