The Varied Distribution of the Holocaust

The Varied Distribution of the Holocaust

The Holocaust was a period of the planned extermination of people of Jewish descent during World War II. It was a genocide during the reign of Adolf Hitler of the Nazi who led his followers to murder over six million Jews. The Jews were targeted alongside other political opponents, prisoners from soviet and homosexuals. As Hitler rose to power, the government enacted Nuremberg laws to eliminate the Jews from society. The anti-Jewish laws were founded by the Nazis to control the movement of the Jews as well as their activity in the country and the rest of Europe. In 1938, the Nazis invaded the homes and business of Jewish people in both Germany and Austria to oust and arrest the Jews. They set fire to their properties as well as ransack their homes to intimidate and kill the Jews. This day became known as Kristallnacht, meaning the night of broken glasses. After the start of the Second World War, many Jews in Europe were killed because Germany was able to gather allies or invade other nations. However, one can argue that the Holocaust varied from one country to the other depending on the country’s relation with Germany, geography, and the degree of the German invasion in countries like Italy, France, and Poland, respectively.

The relation between Italy and German during the second world war shows the disparity in the distribution of the holocaust activities in Europe. Even before the arrival of the Germans in Italy in 1943, the Italians under Benito Mussolini oppressed the Jews and other races they deemed too inferior to them. The fascist movement in Italy under Mussolini came up with laws that supported racial discrimination against other races in the country. Italy occupied areas in Europe such as Greece, some parts of France, and Yugoslavia, which provided a haven for the Jews known as occupational areas. Unlike other concentration camps in Europe, Italy’s Jews were treated like normal prisoners of war until 1943 when the German Nazis took over the country and started to persecute the Jews in the occupational areas as well as the concentration camps. According to an article by the BBC, “More than 7,500 Italian Jews died during the Holocaust” (2019). Other Jews were deported to other countries or offered as slave laborers in German territories around Europe. In Italy, the Holocaust was different because of their relationship with Germany, unlike Poland’s relationship with Germany. While Poland was invaded, Italy surrendered power to Hitler and the German Nazis to become a puppet state run by Benito Mussolini. Before the Germans, the Jews suffered normal racial oppression from the supporters of the Fascist Movement. However, when the Germans take over the country, antisemitic laws are applied, and Jews are killed, showing a disparity in the uniformity of the Holocaust.

The German invasion of Poland also shows the disparity of holocaust distribution in Europe because many Jews were killed in the country than in France and Italy. Germany completely invaded Poland, and thus, the Germans were able to enact their antisemitism laws that supported the Holocaust. Unlike the other countries that Germany had invaded pre-war and during the war, Jews in Poland were worst hit by the invasion. The act of Germany invading Poland led to the start of the world war because France and Britain declared war against Germany. After the invasion of the country, German Nazis created laws that ousted the Jews from their government positions, business and homes. They placed the Jews in ghettos and concentration camps where they were either persecuted or made to submit to labor in German territories. Holocaust in Poland was indeed different from other countries because the Nazis were extremely violent and cruel to the Jews. According to an article by Facing History, “By 1942, Poland was the focus of the Nazis’ first factory-style killing plan,” and by the time the death camps became operational, the Jewish population had already suffered some serious loss (Facing History). The Nazis created death camps where they came up with horrific ways to kill the Jews. Unlike in countries like France or Italy, Polish Jews were tortured and killed in gruesome ways. For example, the Nazis would use gas vans to kill the Jews. The Polish Jews suffered at the hands of the Germans and it is estimated that more than three million Jews in Poland were killed. The Holocaust was in Poland was indeed different than in other countries due to the number of people who were killed.

The geographical location of the countries also played a big role in the distribution of the Nazi movement and the holocaust activities in Europe. The Jewish community in the countries that were bordering Germany experienced Holocaust differently than countries that were far from the German Nazi. Countries like Austria, Poland, and France experienced the Holocaust differently than countries like Italy. In France, however, many Jews were not persecuted because their population was as high as the Jews in Poland and Austria. In addition to this, the treatment of the Jews in the country was different depending on the region the Jewish community lived. The treatment of the Jews was not similar in places like the north of France and the eastern part of the country. The Jewish population in France had grown because of the refugees from the other countries like Belgium and Italy had entered the country seeking safety. In the metropolitan areas of France, such as Vichy, the German anti-semantic rules were none existent, and thus, the Jews were not persecuted. However, in 1944, Germany invaded the Free Area, which Vichy was part of, and the persecution and deportation of Jews started. According to an article by Time Magazine, “13,000 Jewish people were detained in an indoor cycling stadium in Paris for the largest deportation of the Jewish” (Waxman). The Jews were deported to concentration camps in other countries because the country had not signed the anti-semitic laws of the Nazis, and thus, they could persecute Jews in the country.

Apart from the geographical position, the intensity of the antisemitic laws and rules in the three-country also show the disparity of the holocaust activities in Europe. Antisemitic laws were Nazi made laws that promoted hostility, racism, and prejudice against the Jewish people in Germany. According to United States Holocaust Museums, “The laws excluded German Jews from Reich citizenship and prohibited them from marrying or having sexual relations with persons of ‘German or related blood,” (United States Holocaust Museum). The Jews, Soviets, and homosexuals were persecuted during the purification of Germany by the Nazis. During the second world war, Germany used its military power to spread the antisemitic laws to its neighboring countries that it invaded as well as the countries that allied themselves with Germany like Italy. In countries like Italy, Jews were already being oppressed by the Fascist Movement under Mussolini because of the racial laws that were in place. Thus, adopting the antisemitic laws was easier for them because they had already placed the Jews in concentration camps even though they did not persecute them. In countries like France, after signing the collaborative agreement with Germany, the country forbade the persecution of Jews. Thus, the Jews were deported to concentration and death camps in other countries under Germany. In Poland, the country adopted the antisemitic laws after being invaded by Germany. Thus, the difference in the intensity of the adoption of the antisemitic laws shows the disparity.

The distribution of the Holocaust was not uniform in countries like Italy, Poland, and France because of factors such as the relation between the countries with Germany, the degree of the German invasion, the intensity of indigenous antisemitism, and the geography of the nation.  The Holocaust is one of the darkest moments in human history, where six million Jews lost their lives due to the beliefs of a group of people. In my opinion the mass murder of the Jews was not uniformly distributed because in countries like France, they had not adopted the antisemitic laws that allowed the persecution of Jews like Poland and Italy. Also, the invasion of Poland by Germany played a crucial role in the Holocaust because it started the world war as well as the persecution of the highest number of Jews in a single country. The persecution of Jews in Europe was one of the lowest moments in human history. The Holocaust, however, ended with the defeat of the German Nazis and their allies in 1945. The disparity in the holocaust activities in Europe during the Second World War allowed for some Jews to escape from Europe and become survivors.

Work Cited

BBC News. “Holocaust Survivor Under Guard Amid Death Threats.” BBC News, 7 Nov. 2019, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50329597. Accessed 15 Mar. 2020.

Facing History. “The Holocaust in Poland.” Facing History and Ourselves, www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/resistance-during-holocaust/holocaust-poland. Accessed 15 Mar. 2020.\

Waxman, Olivia B. “A Surprisingly Large Percentage of Young French People Don’t Know About the Holocaust, Study Finds.” Time, 22 Jan. 2020, time.com/5767184/holocaust-remembrance-france-survey/.

United States Holocaust Museum “The Nuremberg Race Laws.” Ushmm.org. N.p., 2018. Web. 22 Mar. 2018.