UNIT 4
Europe’s Jews in the Second World War
4.1 What happened to the Jews of Europe at the beginning of the war (1939–41)? On 1 September 1939, a week after signing a neutrality agreement with the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany invaded Poland. Two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany. However, within a matter of weeks Poland had been defeated – in the west by the formidable German force, and in
the east by the Soviet Union, which invaded on 17 October. In the nine months after the invasion of Poland in September 1939, the German army rapidly conquered much of Western and Northern Europe. Everywhere the Nazis and their allies controlled, they discriminated against Jews. For example, Jews in many countries had to wear a star on their clothes, or an armband, that identified them as Jews. But the treatment of the Jews was not the same in all the countries under Nazi control or influence. The case studies on page 45 give examples of how Jews were treated in some of these countries.
Activity Read the country case studies on page 45 and identify similarities and differences in the way Jews were treated in different European countries.
N
FINLAND NORWAY
Key
SWEDEN
Greater Germany, June 1941 Movement of German army
ESTONIA IRELAND
Atlantic Ocean
North Sea DENMARK
Axis powers
Baltic Sea LITHUANIA EAST SOVIET PRUSSIA London NETHERLANDS Berlin UNION Warsaw BELGIUM POLAND GERMANY Prague LUXEMBOURG UKRAINE SLOVAKIA Vienna FRANCE SWITZERLAND HUNGARY VICHY ROMANIA FRANCE GREAT BRITAIN
PORTUGAL Corsica Mediterranean Sea ALGERIA
ITALY
Sardinia
Countries occupied by Axis powers, June 1941 Nazi collaborating regimes Allied powers and their colonies Soviet Union and Soviet-occupied territories Neutral nations
Black Sea
YUGOSLAVIA SPAIN
MOROCCO
Greater Germany, 1939
LATVIA
BULGARIA ALBANIA TURKEY GREECE
TUNISIA
CYPRUS
SYRIA
IRAQ
Figure 4.1 German expansion, September 1939–June 1941 44
9781510480377 KS3 Understanding the Holocaust.indb 44
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