Source:
https://www.renegadetribune.com/national-socialist-emigration-evacuation-policies-for-jews/
The
National-Socialist government, from 1933 to 1942, encouraged or induced the
emigration of approximately one million jews from the territories under their
control.
National
Socialist Emigration-Evacuation Policy for Jews
by
Carlo Mattogno
“I hope to see the term ‘jew’ extinguished completely through
the possibility of large-scale emigration of all jews to Africa or some other
colony” – Himmler
Shortly
after Hitler’s rise to power, the Reich government entered into the so-called
Haavara Agreement with the Jewish Agency for Palestine,
a capital transfer agreement (haavara) for “German” jews emigrating to
Palestine. The basis of the agreement was created with “Circular Decree
No. 54/33 by the Reich Ministry of Economics of August 28, 1933 to all German
foreign-exchange control offices” (Vogel, p. 107). According to
statistics of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, 52,463 jews emigrated
from Germany to Palestine from 1933 to 1942 on the basis of this agreement.
Until
the outbreak of the [jewish] war – and during the [jewish] war, as long as
circumstances permitted – emigration to all countries willing to admit the jews
was the principal purpose of National Socialist policy, as confirmed by the
report of the German Foreign Office titled “The Jewish Question as a
Factor in Foreign Affairs in 1938” (“Die Judenfrage als Faktor der
Außenpolitik im Jahre 1938”) dated January 25, 1939. The first four points
of the document read as follows:
1.
“The German policy on the jews as a prerequisite and
consequence of the foreign-policy decisions of 1938
2.
Aim of German policy on the jews: emigration
3.
Means, ways and ends of jewish emigration
4.
The emigrated jew as the best propaganda for the German
policy on the jews.”
Then,
“the necessity for a radical solution of the jewish question”
was recognized, which basically consisted in the following:
“The ultimate goal of German jewish policy is the emigration of all jews living
in Reich territory.”
The day
before, 24 January, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring had issued a decree
establishing the Reich Center for Jewish Emigration (Reichszentrale
für jüdische Auswanderung), the administration of which was entrusted to
Reinhardt Heydrich. Göring first of all summarized concisely the principle that
inspired National-Socialist policy (NG-2586-A):
“The emigration of jews from Germany must be encouraged by all means.”
Precisely with a view to what he instituted, the above-mentioned “Reichszentrale,”
which was responsible for “taking all the measures for the preparation of an
intensified emigration of the jews,” to provide for the preferential
emigration of poor jews, and finally to facilitate bureaucratic practices for
single individuals.
On
November 25, 1939, Erhard Wetzel and G. Hecht, who occupied official positions
in the field of racial policy, wrote a memorandum titled “The Issue
of treating the population of the former Polish territory from the point of view
of racial politics,” which constituted a first draft of the future
“General Plan East.” Among other things, the draft set forth a
plan for jewish resettlement in the occupied Polish territories, formulated as
follows:
“The remaining Polish territory which, at the moment, has a population of 12.7
million, would thus reach 19.3 million.[7] In addition, there would be another
800,000 jews from the Reich (Altreich area, Austria, Sudetenlands, and
Protectorate). Finally, another 530,000 jews from the former Polish territories
now integrated into the Reich would have to be transferred as well.”
The
destination of these deportations was no doubt the General Government, which had
been officially created on 12 October. The plan was a follow-up to the
directives issued by Heydrich to all the Einsatzgruppen leaders on the “jewish
question in the occupied territories” by express letter dated 21 September
1939 (PS-3363), including the Nisko Plan (October 1939), which
called for the creation of a jewish reservation in eastern Poland, was a failed
attempt at implementation, perhaps on the initiative of SS Sturmbannführer Adolf
Eichmann’s (see Goshen; see also Mattogno 2018, pp. 31f.). The idea of jewish
emigration was not abandoned, however (PS-660, p. 35):
“In order to make the jew fit for emigration, it would be advisable, if need be,
to provide him with a better educational training.”
In a
memorandum written in May 1940, Himmler wrote (1957, p. 197):
“I hope to see the term ‘jew’ extinguished completely through the possibility of
large-scale emigration of all jews to Africa or some other colony”
On June
24, 1940, Heydrich, who headed the RSHA (Reichssicherheitshauptamt, Reich
Security Main Office), requested the Minister for Foreign Affairs Joachim von
Ribbentrop to keep him informed of any possible ministerial meetings relating to
the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question” (Endlösung der
Judenfrage), justifying his request as follows (T-173):
“Dear Party Comrade Ribbentrop!
In 1939, the General Field Marshal [Göring], in his capacity as administrator of
the Four-Year-Plan, entrusted me with the implementation of the jewish
emigration from the territory of the Reich. Subsequently, it was possible, even
during the war and in spite of considerable difficulties, to carry on the jewish
emigration successfully.
Since 1st January 1939, when my office took over this task, more than 200,000
jews have so far emigrated from the Reich area. However, the whole problem – we
are dealing with some 3¼ million jews in the areas presently under German
sovereignty – can no longer be solved by emigration. Thus, a final solution on a
territorial basis will impose itself.”
As a
follow-up to this letter, the minister for foreign affairs wrote the so-called “Madagascar
Project.” On July 3, 1940, Franz Rademacher, head of the jewish section
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, wrote a report titled “The Jewish
Question in the Peace Treaty,” which opened with the following declaration:
“The impending victory gives Germany the possibility and, I think, makes it our
duty, to resolve the jewish question in Europe. The most desirable solution is:
All jews out of Europe.”
The plan
was approved by Ribbentrop and transmitted to the RSHA, which was responsible
for implementing the technical preparations for the evacuation of the jews to
the island of Madagascar, and supervising the evacuated jews (NG-2586-J). It was
precisely this which comprised the “territorial Final Solution” to the
Jewish Question advocated by Heydrich.
On
August 30, Rademacher wrote a note “Madagaskar Projekt,” the
“financing” paragraph of which opens with the following words (NG-2586-D):
“The implementation of the proposed final solution will require considerable
resources.”
The “Final Solution” of the Jewish Question therefore simply referred to the
transfer of the ‘European’ jews to Madagascar.
In
October of 1940, Alfred Rosenberg wrote an article titled “Jews
on Madagascar” (“Juden auf Madagaskar”), in which he reminded
his readers that as early as the anti-jewish congress at Budapest in 1927,
“[…] the question of a future removal of the jews from Europe [was] discussed,
and here, for the first time, the proposal was made to promote Madagascar as the
intended homestead of the jews.”
Rosenberg himself endorsed this idea and expressed his wish for the “jewish
high finance” in Britain and the USA to help with the creation of a “jewish
reservation” in Madagascar, which he considered “a worldwide problem.”
According to the testimony of Moritz von Schirmeister, a former official at the
German ministry of propaganda, even Joseph Goebbels spoke publicly of the
Madagascar Plan several times (IMT, Vol. 17, p. 250), while
Ribbentrop recalled the Führer’s intention to deport the “European” jews to
North Africa or Madagascar (IMT, Vol. 10, p. 398).
The deportation of the “European” jews to Madagascar was not a fictitious plan,
but a real and concrete project. In parallel with that plan, the authorities of
the Reich continued to promote the emigration of the jews, particularly from
Germany, by all means.
Zionist circles of Palestine fully supported this German policy.
On January 11, 1941, one of their representatives sent a letter to the German
Embassy in Ankara containing three attachments, including “a proposal
from the National Military Organization of Palestine on the solution of the
jewish question in Europe,” which stated:
“Germany’s leading National Socialist statesmen have in comments and speeches
more than once emphasized that a New Order in Europe requires a radical solution
of the jewish question through evacuation (‘jew-free Europe’).
The evacuation of the jewish masses from Europe is a prerequisite for solving
the jewish question, which is possible only by resettling these masses in the
homeland of the jewish people, Palestine, and by establishing the jewish State
in its historic boundaries.
To solve the jewish problem in this way and once and for all to liberate the
jewish people is the aim of the political activity and the ongoing struggle of
the israeli freedom movement, the National Military Organization in Palestine.”
(Irgun Zevai Leumi)
In this
context, Irgun even offered “to actively take part in the war on
Germany’s side.”
On May
20, 1941, Heydrich prohibited the emigration of jews from France and Belgium “in
consideration of the doubtlessly approaching final solution of the jewish
question,” that is, in view of the implementation of the
Madagascar Project, which was considered imminent. First of all,
Heydrich basically reaffirmed the principle that inspired National-Socialist
policy towards the jews:
“In accordance with an instruction emanating from the Reich Marshall of the
Greater German Reich [Göring], the emigration of jews from the Reich territory
including the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia is to be implemented actively,
even under the present state of war, within the conditions prevailing and taking
into account the directives for the emigration of the jews.”
Heydrich
then clearly explained the reasons for the prohibition (ibid.):
“As the jews on the territory of the Reich, for example, have only a limited
choice of departure [routes], mainly via Spain and Portugal, an emigration of
jews from France and Belgium would further reduce these possibilities.”
Two
months later, on July 31, Göring entrusted Heydrich with the task of undertaking
all necessary preparations for the “Final Solution,” that is,
emigration or evacuation of all jews under German rule to Madagascar. This
letter in fact declared (NG-2586-E, PS-710):
“In addition to the task already entrusted to you by the decree of 14 January
1939, viz. to bring about an optimum solution to the jewish question by
emigration or evacuation in accordance with the conditions prevailing, I order
you herewith to undertake all necessary preparations – organizational,
administrative, and material – for a comprehensive solution of the jewish
question within the German sphere of influence in Europe.
To the extent that the competence of other central agencies is concerned
thereby, the latter are [to be requested] to participate. I order you
furthermore to submit to me in the near future a comprehensive proposal
concerning the organizational, administrative, and material requirements for the
implementation of the final solution of the jewish question so envisaged.”
This
document is fully in accordance with the Madagascar Project.
The directives issued by Göring “in addition” to those already issued to
Heydrich by means of the decree of 24 January 1939 consisted, in fact, of
completing the solution to the jewish question “in the form of
emigration or evacuation” of the jews of the Reich only, with a
territorial “final solution” through evacuation to Madagascar of all the jews
from the territories occupied by the Germans.
Precisely because it involved all the “European” jews of the occupied countries,
this solution was called the “comprehensive solution”
(“Gesamtlösung”), a term which not accidentally recalled the “whole problem” of
Heydrich’s letter of June 24, 1940.
Writing
on November 6, 1941, Heydrich himself, who had been responsible for preparing
the “Final Solution” in Europe for years (PS-1624), clearly
traced this responsibility back to the decree of January 24, 1939, and
identified the “Final Solution” with the solution “in
the form of emigration or evacuation” from Göring’s letter dated July
31, 1941.
This is
also the context of the order conveyed to the foreign ministry by Adolf Eichmann
on August 28, 1941, which prohibited “an emigration of jews from the
territories occupied by us in view of the impending final solution of the jewish
question in Europe now being prepared.”
Over the
following months, the difficulties created by the war and the territorial
prospects opened up by the Russian campaign led to an important change in
destination in National-Socialist policies with regard to the jews: the
“Final Solution” through deportation of the “European” jews to Madagascar was
succeeded by a “territorial Final Solution” through the deportation of the
“European” jews into the German-occupied eastern territories.
This
change was proposed on August 22, 1941 by SS Sturmbannführer Carl Theo
Zeitschel, advisor at the German Embassy in Paris, in a note drawn up by
Ambassador Otto Abetz:
“The continuing conquest and occupation of large territories in the East could
at present offer us a rapid solution of the jewish problem throughout Europe. As
we can see from the cries for help addressed to the ‘American’ jews in the press
of all the jews in Palestine, some 6 million jews are living in the regions
recently occupied by us, especially in Bessarabia, amounting to one third of
world jewry.
In the course of any new disposition of the eastern space, these six million
jews would in any case have to be grouped and a special territory would have to
be staked out for them. It should not be a major problem to include the jews
from the remainder of the European states and to move there as well the jews who
are presently crammed into the ghettos of Warsaw, Litzmannstadt (Łodź), Lublin
etc.
As far as the occupied areas are concerned, such as Holland, Belgium,
Luxembourg, Norway, Yugoslavia, Greece, it would be easy to issue military
orders for the removal of the jews to the new territory in mass transports;
other states could be encouraged to follow this example and to expell their jews
to this territory. Within a short period of time, Europe could be made free of
jews.”
In
General Governor Hans Frank’s diary, dated July 17, 1941, we read (Präg/
Jacobmeyer p. 386):
“The Governor General does not favor any further ghettos because the Führer
expressly declared on 19 June that the jews will soon be removed from the
General Government with the latter becoming, as it were, a mere transit camp.”
On
August 20, 1941, after a visit to the Führer’s headquarters, Goebbels noted in
his diary (Reuth, pp. 1660f.):
“Furthermore, the Führer promised me that I could remove the jews from Berlin
immediately after the termination of the eastern campaign.”
Zeitschel’s proposal was approved by Hitler a few months later, who decided to
abandon the Madagascar Project temporarily, and deport East all
jews found in the occupied territories. The Führer’s decision certainly dates
back to September 1941 – according to some to September 17 (Konze et al., p.
185).
On
October 23, Himmler declared jewish emigration effective immediately, and the
evacuation of 50,000 western jews to the East was ordered the next day. On
October 24, Kurt Daluege, head of the regular police (Ordnungspolizei), issued a
decree bearing the subject “Evacuations of Jews from the Old Reich and
the Protectorate,” which ordered (PS-3921):
“Between November 1 and December 4, 1941, 50,000 jews will be deported by the
security police from the Altreich, the Ostmark [Austria], and the Protectorate
of Bohemia and Moravia into the region of Minsk and Riga in the East.
The deportations will be carried out by Reichsbahn trains of 1000 persons each.
The trains will be assembled at Berlin, Hamburg, Hannover, Dortmund, Münster,
Düsseldorf, Cologne, Frankfurt/M., Kassel, Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Munich, Vienna,
Breslau, Prague, and Brünn.”
The new
direction given to National-Socialist policies with regard to the jews was
officially communicated to the old Party hierarchy at the Wannsee
Conference, which was convened for this primary purpose.
The
conference, initially scheduled for December 9, 1941 (PS-709; NG2586-F), was
postponed due to the United States’s entry into the war, and was eventually held
in Berlin, at Am Großen Wannsee 56/58, on January 20, 1942. Heydrich was the
speaker. The associated minutes open with an extensive recapitulation of
National-Socialist policies implemented with regard to the jews up until that
time, as a consequence of which approximately 537,000 jews had emigrated by
October 31, 1941, including:
–
approximately 360,000 from the Old Reich since January 30, 1933
–
approximately 147,000 from the Ostmark [Austria] since March 15, 1938
–
approximately 30,000 from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia since March
15, 1939.
Then we
read there, among other things (NG-2586-G):
“In the meantime, the Reichsführer-SS and Head of the German Police [= Himmler]
has forbidden any further emigration of jews in view of the dangers posed by
emigration in wartime and the developing possibilities in the East.
As a further possible solution, and with the appropriate prior authorization by
the Führer, emigration has now been replaced by evacuation to the East. This
operation should be regarded only as a provisional option, though in view of the
coming final solution of the jewish question it is already supplying practical
experience of vital importance.”
By
Hitler’s order, therefore, the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question”
through voluntary or compulsory emigration of all the “European” jews to
Madagascar, was replaced by their evacuation to the occupied eastern
territories, but only as a “provisional option,” while awaiting the end of the
war in order to return to the problem.
The Wannsee Conference was therefore convened to inform the authorities
concerned of the abandonment of the policy of emigration or evacuation to
Madagascar, and the commencement on a vast scale of a policy of deportation to
the east, and to discuss the related problems.
The Madagascar Project was officially abandoned in early February 1942.
An information letter from Rademacher to adjutant Harald Bielfeld of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs dated February 10, 1942 explains the reasons
(NG5770):
“In August of 1940 I transmitted to you for your files the plan elaborated by my
department for the final solution of the jewish question, whereby the island of
Madagascar was to be ceded by France, with the practical implementation of this
task to be entrusted to the RSHA. In accordance with this plan, Gruppenführer
Heydrich was ordered by the Führer to carry out the solution of the jewish
question in Europe.
The war against the Soviet Union has meanwhile opened up the possibility of
providing other territories for the final solution. The Führer has decided
accordingly that the jews will not be deported to Madagascar but to the East.
Hence, Madagascar need no longer be considered for the final solution.”
The “Final Solution of the Jewish Question” was therefore a territorial solution
and consisted of the deportation of the “European” jews into the German-occupied
Eastern territories.
Another
important document, the memorandum by Martin Luther (an official in the German
Ministry of Foreign Affairs) dated August 21, 1942. In this document, Luther
first recapitulates the essential points of National-Socialist policies with
regard to the jews (NG-2586-J):
“The basic premise of the German policy in respect of the jews, starting with
the seizure of power [by Hitler in 1933], was to promote jewish emigration by
all available means. For this purpose, Generalfeldmarschall Göring, in his
capacity as head of the Four-Year-Plan, created a Reich central agency for
jewish emigration and assigned its leadership to Gruppenführer Heydrich, the
chief of the security police.”
After
setting forth the origins and development of the Madagascar Project, which was
now superseded by events, Luther continued by noting that Göring’s letter of
July 31, 1941 was a follow-up to Heydrich’s letter of June 24, 1940 according to
which the jewish question would no longer be resolved through emigration, but
required “a territorial final solution.”
“For that reason, Reichsmarschall Göring requested Gruppenführer Heydrich on
July 31, 1941 to carry out all necessary preparations for a comprehensive
solution of the jewish question within the German sphere of influence in Europe
(cf. [Document] DIII 709g).
On the basis of this order, Gruppenführer Heydrich convened a meeting of all
German agencies involved for January 20, 1942, with secretaries of state from
the other ministries and myself from the foreign office attending. Gruppenführer
Heydrich explained at the meeting that Reichsmarschall Göring had issued his
order being so directed by the Führer, and that the Führer had now approved the
evacuation of the jews to the East.”
Based on
this order, Luther continued, the evacuation of the jews from Germany was
undertaken. The destination consisted of the Eastern territories via the General
Government:
“The removal to the General Government is a temporary measure. The jews will be
moved on to the occupied eastern territories as soon as the material means are
available.”
A
circular letter dated October 9, 1942 titled “Preparatory measures for a
solution of the jewish problem in Europe. Rumors concerning the situation of the
jews in the East” containing “Confidential information” intended for
party officials, inspired by the headings related to “very severe measures” in
the occupied Eastern territories which began to be spread in Germany and which
were “usually in a distorted or exaggerated manner,” summarized the stages and
clearly explained the meaning of the “Final Solution of the Jewish
Question”:
“Since the beginning of the war in 1939, emigration has become increasingly
difficult; at the same time, the economic space of the German people has
steadily increased in size compared to its living space so that, at the present
time, a complete elimination through emigration is no longer possible in view of
the large number of jews present in this [economic] space.
It is to be expected that already the coming generation will perceive this
problem neither as vividly nor as clearly [as we do] on the basis of their own
experience. Also, the matter has been set in motion and must be settled; hence,
the problem as a whole must be resolved by the present generation.
Therefore, the complete expulsion or elimination of the millions of jews present
in the European economic sphere is an imperative task in the fight to guarantee
the existence of the German people.
Starting in the Reich itself and then extending into the other European
countries made part of the final solution, the jews will be moved into large
camps in the East, some already in existence, others yet to be set up, where
they will be used directly as labor or moved on further east. Elderly jews, as
well as those with high military decorations (EK I [Iron Cross], Golden medal
for bravery etc.) will be moved continuously to Theresienstadt, a town in the
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.”
In a
report dated December 14, 1942 titled “Financing the Measures for the
Solution of the Jewish Question,” ministerial advisor Walter Maedel
summarized National-Socialist policies regarding the jews in the following terms
(NG-4583):
“Some time ago, the Reichsmarschall ordered the Reichsführer-SS and Chief of the
German Police to prepare the measures aiming at the final solution of the jewish
question. The Reichsführer-SS has entrusted the Chief of the Security Police and
SD with the execution of this task. The latter initially promoted the legal
emigration of jews overseas by special measures.
When emigration overseas had become impossible after the outbreak of the war, he
implemented the gradual cleansing of jews from the Reich by their deportation to
the East. Lately, within the Reich territory, old-age homes (old-age ghettos)
for jews have been set up, for example at Theresienstadt. For details see note
of August 21, 1942. The establishment of other old-age homes in the eastern
territories is being planned.”
In April
1943, Richard Korherr, the Reichsführer’s statistical inspector, wrote a report
titled “The Final Solution of the Jewish Question in Europe,”
in which he reported the following data (NO-5193):
Therefore, 557,357 jews emigrated from the Old Reich, Austria and
Bohemia/Moravia, in addition to nearly 600,000 of the 762,593 jews from the
General Government and the eastern territories cumulatively indicated by Korherr
under the headings “Emigration” and “Excess mortality” (see Subchapter 3.12.).
Therefore, the National-Socialist government, from 1933 to 1942, encouraged or
induced the emigration of approximately one million jews from the territories
under their control.
SOURCE
