Countries that saved all the jews living in them

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Korbius
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Countries that saved all the jews living in them

#1

Post by Korbius » 06 Feb 2003, 13:45

How many countries during WWII saved all of their jewish population while they were under Nazi occupation?

alsaco
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Saving all jews from nazis

#2

Post by alsaco » 06 Feb 2003, 15:23

None

Finland did, was not really occupied.

Bulgaria had very limited losses, german oriented government having been in charge only some months at the end

Denmark manged to send the Jews to Sweden, but had had losses before.

Italy, kingdom, did avoid deportation. But Salo Republic compensated.


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#3

Post by David Thompson » 06 Feb 2003, 18:50

Here are some notes on the Nazis, Finland and the Finnish Jews:

In Jun 1942, In a conversation between Reichsfuehrer SS-Heinrich Himmler and Johann Wilhelm Rangell, the Prime Minister of Finland, Himmler raised the subject of Finnish Jews. According to Rangell: "Himmler asked: 'How is the situation with the Jews in Finland?' I said to him that in Finland there are roughly a couple of thousand Jews, decent families and individuals whose sons are fighting in our army like the rest of the Finns and who are respected citizens as all the rest. I concluded my statement with the words, 'Wir haben keine Judenfrage' (We have no Jewish question), and I said it with such a clarity that the discussion of the matter ended then and there. The Jewish question was not discussed with Himmler at any other time." (Holo Ency 494)

On 15 Jul 1942, Felix Kersten, former physician to the Dutch royal family and masseur to Reichsfuehrer-SS Heinrich Himmler, discovered that Himmler planned a trip to Finland to demand the deportation of Finnish Jews. Kersten immediately warned the Finnish legation in Berlin of the planned action, so that the government of Finland could prepare a response. (Hoehne 449)

On 29 Jul 1942 Reichsfuehrer-SS Henrich Himmler flew to Helsinki, Finland, to pressure the Finnish government to permit the Nazis to deport that country's Jews. On the secret advice of Felix Kersten, Himmler's masseur and confidant, the Finns stalled for time. The Foreign Minister of Finland, Witting, told Himmler that he would have to wait for the Finnish parliament to reconvene in November, 1942, to vote on the proposed Jewish deportations. (Hoehne 449)

On 14 Dec 1942, Reichsfuehrer-SS Heinrich Himmler raised the question of Jewish deportations from Finland again, which had been postponed from the time of Himmler's visit to Helsinki, the Finnish capitol, on 29 July. The question of the deportations had been deferred at that time to the Finnish parliament, which was scheduled to meet in November but never convened. Felix Kersten, the former physician to the Dutch royal family and Himmler's masseur, told Himmler that the war was going so badly that the government of Finland did not dare recall parliament and propose the question of deportation now. (Hoehne 450)

On 18 Sept 1943 Reichsfuehrer-SS Heinrich Himmler complained to his masseur and confidant, Felix Kersten, that the Finnish government was deliberately stalling him on allowing deportations of Jews from Finland to the Nazi death camps in the east. According to Kersten, Himmler told him "What does this twopenny-halfpenny state think it's doing, refusing to comply with the Fuehrer's desires!" (Hoehne 450)

On 4 Sept 1944, Finland and the Soviet Union signed an armistice, ending Finnish participation in World War II.

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#4

Post by chalutzim » 06 Feb 2003, 18:58

Interesting post, David. Congratulations!

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#5

Post by Korbius » 06 Feb 2003, 19:51

Wow, a lot of info, thanks guys. But I also heard that the countries who helped in saving all of the jews living in them, the country's name is on a list which is in the Yad Vashem museum in Israel. Does anyone know that list?

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#6

Post by chalutzim » 06 Feb 2003, 20:03

Korbius wrote:Wow, a lot of info, thanks guys. But I also heard that the countries who helped in saving all of the jews living in them, the country's name is on a list which is in the Yad Vashem museum in Israel. Does anyone know that list?
http://www.yad-vashem.org.il/righteous/ ... teous.html

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#7

Post by Korbius » 06 Feb 2003, 20:27

Thanks for the link Chalutzim :wink:

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#8

Post by chalutzim » 06 Feb 2003, 20:32

You're welcome!

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Re: Countries that saved all the jews living in them

#9

Post by Charles Bunch » 07 Feb 2003, 00:22

Korbius wrote:How many countries during WWII saved all of their jewish population while they were under Nazi occupation?
Denmark is recognized for its efforts to save it's approximately 7500 Jews.

Just prior to the Nazi plan to round up the Jews of Denmark, a remarkable rescue operation saved 7000 Jews when the Danish citizenry orchestrated their escape to Sweden in numerous fishing boats and other craft. The Nazis were able to capture only 500 Jews, but due to persistent complaints and warnings from the government of Denmark, they were sent to Theresienstadt and were never deported from there to the death camps. About 100 did not survive Theresienstadt.

More information can be found here:

http://www.holocaust-education.dk/holoc ... ocaust.asp

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#10

Post by Korbius » 07 Feb 2003, 02:30

Interesting, I just searched on google for the jews saved by my country and I found out that all of the jews in Albania were saved, and that's why Albania is found on the list of the countries in the Yad Vashem remembrance museum in Jerusalem.

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#11

Post by Xanthro » 07 Feb 2003, 02:56

Korbius wrote:Interesting, I just searched on google for the jews saved by my country and I found out that all of the jews in Albania were saved, and that's why Albania is found on the list of the countries in the Yad Vashem remembrance museum in Jerusalem.
I don't mean to be the person to rain on your parade, but Albania couldn't save all it's Jews, though it tried.

The nations of the Yad Vashem lists the number of people who went to extra-ordinary lengths to help Jews survive, in the case of Albania, 60 such persons. Even Germany is on the Yad Vashem.

In fairness, there were about 300 Jews in Albania proper at the start of the war, and after the fall of Yugoslavia, Albania under Italian control expanded into the Kosovo region. The treatment of Jews under the join Albanian and Italian control was very good. Other Jews who could fled to the area. However, when the Italians surreneder to the Allies in 1943, the Germans took control. The Abanians turned over the 400 Jews in the Pristina region, only 100 survived the end of the war.

Nobody is certain if these contained any Jews from Albania proper, and even after the Italian surrender, the Jews in Albania proper were protected.

Albania is much like Denmark in the case of the Holocaust, both countries went to great lengths to protect their Jewish citizens, but couldn't help all of them.

Xanthro

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#12

Post by Korbius » 07 Feb 2003, 03:40

Xanthro, I meant only within the territory of Albania, not in Kosova or in other parts. Anyways, according to statistics, the jews in albania were the only jews that actually numbered more at the end of the war rather than at the beginning. And when I said that all its jews were saved, it didn't come from me, but from actual Israeli state archives.

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#13

Post by Xanthro » 07 Feb 2003, 03:44

Korbius wrote:Xanthro, I meant only within the territory of Albania, not in Kosova or in other parts. Anyways, according to statistics, the jews in albania were the only jews that actually numbered more at the end of the war rather than at the beginning. And when I said that all its jews were saved, it didn't come from me, but from actual Israeli state archives.
I've seen a number of websites claiming that all the Albanian Jews were saved, but unfortunately, it's not the case. Though the Albanians tried very hard.

Xanthro

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#14

Post by Korbius » 07 Feb 2003, 03:47

Xanthro, as I said before, this doesn't come from me but from actual facts in the Israeli archives.

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#15

Post by Xanthro » 07 Feb 2003, 03:58

Korbius wrote:Xanthro, as I said before, this doesn't come from me but from actual facts in the Israeli archives.
I know, I've read the archives. As I said, there are a number of sites that claim that Albanian lost no Jews, unfortunately, they are mistaken.

People make the mistake of assuming no losses because the Jewish population after the war was higher than pre-war. That doesn't equate to no losses. It means that immigration outnumbered losses.

Under the Italians, each Jew in Albania was required to report each day, unfortunately, they kept lists that fell into Nazi hands. The Albanians tried to protect the Jews, but still the Nazi got some. This isn't the fault of the Albanians.

Albania was as safe a country in occupied Europe as a Jew could hope to find.

Xanthro

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