Antisemitism In Poland

signed between the French and Nazis. France was split into two. Vichy France in the south, and Northern France which was under Nazi occupation. There was a collaboration between Vichy France, and the Reich. This resulted in the Increase of anti-Jewish measures, Aryanisation, and anti-Jewish violence. Like the Dutch, the French also participated in hiding Jews from deportation. However, anti-Semitism still remained prevalent, especially in Vichy France through religious antisemitism.There was also an increase of anti-Semitic propaganda, and anti-Jewish legislation was well received by local population.

The Nazis believed that the Dutch and Scandinavians would be sympathetic to their cause. However, it proved quite the opposite. The Germans

Josef Terboven was their Reichskommissar, and anti-Jewish measures begun around 1940, just after the Nazi occupation. Despite some local attempts to protect Norwegian Jews, a high proportion of Jews died in Norway, even though it was a small population of them.

Polish Jews on the other hand were treated much more differently once invaded by the Germans. Similar to France, Poland was split into different controlled areas. The western part of Poland was annexed into a ‘Greater Germany’, and the eastern part was controlled by the Soviet Union. Head of the gestapo Reinhard Heydrich ordered on 21 September 1939 that all the 1.8 million Jews in Nazi controlled Poland, would be annexed into the General government. The implementation of anti-Semitic measures, and attacks commenced immediately.

The treatment of Jews was far less brutal in western Europe than it was of Polish Jews. Unlike western Europe, the Einsatgruppen were special units placed in Poland, and Jews as well as Polish intellectuals were targeted. This was for mainly ideological reasons, with the history of Nazi Eugenics who viewed Poles and Slavs as racially inferior to the German Aryan race. Poles also have a greater history of anti-Semitism through the past history of Pogroms with Jews and

They viewed the Dutch and Scandinavians as Aryans, and Britain as close cousins. The Germans aimed to make the Netherlands and Scandinavia eventually part of the German Reich, whereas Poland and the Soviet Union would be used for resource exploitation, and a colonial area with the settlement of Germans. This resulted in removing Jews from the area to make way for the new German settlers. Through this the process of ghettoization and the establishment of ghettos was done to segregate the Jews into certain areas. In the ghettos, a council of Jewish elders (Judenrate) was also to set up, that would be responsible for administering the area, and implementing orders given by the Nazis. Jews in western Europe on the other hand were facing similar discrimination in “ghettos without