Austria

Austria had three roles within the context of the Holocaust: Perpetrator Crime Scene Victim With a few postwar Holocaust trials, it also had a minor role as a propagandist, which will not be covered here. However, see the last section in the entry on Auschwitz Trials in this regard. Perpetrator If one were to consider…

Baltic Countries

The three Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania had four roles within the context of the Holocaust: Perpetrator Crime Scene Victim Propaganda Podium Perpetrator By the time World War Two began, the Baltic people had long-standing and deep cultural relationships with both Russia and Germany. However, while Russia had dominated, occupied and oppressed these countries…

Belgium

Documents indicate that 25,437 Jews were deported from Belgium, with the Auschwitz Camp as their main destination. Few of these Jews reported back with the local authorities after the war. It is unknown how many returned without reporting back, and how many migrated elsewhere. The fate of the Jews deported from Belgium was probably very…

Bulgaria

Although Bulgaria was Allied with wartime Germany, no Jews were deported from that country or murdered there. Since Bulgaria was known as a relatively safe haven, several thousand Jews actually sought and found refuge there. (See the entry on Jewish demography for a broader perspective.)

Czechia

During the Second World War, the Sudetenland border areas of today’s Czechia were part of Germany. The rest of Czechia itself was called Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia. Some 82,000 Jews were deported from that area. Most of them stayed temporarily at the Theresienstadt Ghetto, before being moved on to other places. Initially, many of them…

Denmark

The Jews living in Denmark were left unmolested by the German occupation forces until October 1943. Plans to deport them were leaked around that time, resulting in a large-scale rescue operation by Danish civilians, helping almost all Jews to escape to Sweden, where they were welcome. Some 500 Jews were arrested and deported to the…

France

France’s role in the Holocaust was twofold. First, during the German occupation of northern France, the French government in southern France collaborated with the German authorities and agreed to have those Jews living in France deported to Auschwitz who either had no French citizenship or who had obtained it only recently. The deportation lists have…

Germany

Germany had four roles within the context of the Holocaust: Perpetrator Crime Scene Victim Propagandist The last role is discussed in detail in the section on Germany of the entry on propaganda, so it will not be covered here. Perpetrator If we consider Austria as not being a part of Germany, then the main perpetrator…

Greece

In early March 1943, the Bulgarian authorities arrested and handed over to the Germans some 4,000 Greek Jews from the Bulgarian zone of occupation. These Jews are said to have been deported to the Treblinka Camp. In the spring and summer of 1943, some 40,000 Jews from Greece were deported by German forces to Auschwitz….

Hungary

Between 1938 and early 1941, Hungary took control of considerable swaths of territory of its various weak or disintegrating neighboring countries, but lost them all again after the war. With these new territories also came many additional Jews. While Hungary proper had some 400,000 Jews, that number swelled to 725,000 with the new territories, plus…

Italy

After the Italian surrender to the Allies in September 1943 and Germany’s partial occupation of northern and central Italy, German forces tried arresting and deporting all Jews to labor camps. However, due to advanced warnings and lack of cooperation by the local Italian authorities, not quite 7,000 Jews could be apprehended, plus 1,800 in the…

Luxembourg

Documents indicate that 512 Jews were deported from Luxembourg, with the Auschwitz Camp as their main destination. Few of these Jews reported back with the local authorities after the war. It is unknown how many returned without reporting back, and how many migrated elsewhere. The fate of the Jews deported from Luxembourg was probably very…

Netherlands

Between the summer of 1942 and September 1944, some 105,000 Jews were deported from the Netherlands, mainly to Auschwitz and Sobibór, but some also to Theresienstadt, with the ultimate destination again being Auschwitz. The first set of transports between July 1942 and February 1943 went to Auschwitz. Their fate there was probably similar to that…

Norway

Some 800 Jews were deported from Norway, with the Auschwitz Camp as their main destination. Few of these Jews reported back with the local authorities after the war. Most of them have gone missing, and their fate is unclear. (See the entry on Jewish demography for a broader perspective.)

Poland

Poland had three roles within the context of the Holocaust: Crime Scene Victim Propagandist The last role is discussed in detail in the section on Poland of the entry on propaganda, so it will not be covered here. Crime Scene All the so-called extermination camps were located on what was legitimately Polish territory. They had…

Romania

Romania never deported any Jews to German camps, but when reconquering Moldova and Transnistria from the Soviet Union in 1941 with German help, pogroms against the local Jews broke out. The Jews were suspected by the Romanians and locals that they had collaborated with the Stalinist occupants. The Romanian authorities exacerbated the situation by deporting…

Slovakia

The German and Slovak government agreed in early 1942 that Germany would take all of Slovakia’s Jews in return for a certain payment. During the first phase in March and April, only Jews fit for labor were deported to the labor camps of Majdanek and Auschwitz. Starting in late April 1942, everyone was deported, including…

Soviet Union

Introduction The Soviet Union played four roles within the context of the Holocaust: Crime Scene Victim Perpetrator Propagandist The last role is discussed in detail in the section on the Soviet Union of the entry on propaganda, so it will not be covered here. Anti-Bolshevism was one of the four main motives of National-Socialist enmity…

Ukraine

Ukraine had four roles within the context of the Holocaust: Perpetrator Crime Scene Victim Propaganda Podium Perpetrator The Ukrainian people suffered incredible hardships during the Bolshevist revolution and even more so under the subsequent Stalinist rule, in particular during the Holodomor. Most Ukrainians were probably keenly aware of the predominance of people with a Jewish…

Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia was dismembered during the Second World War: It consisted of German-aligned Croatia, German-occupied Serbia and areas temporarily occupied/annexed by neighboring countries. In the present context, we focus on Serbia and Croatia. (See the entry on Jewish demography for a broader perspective.) Serbia In July 1941, a major uprising occurred in Serbia, which the German…

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