By the summer of 1938, it was clear to everyone that European Jews were in great danger. Led by the United States, representatives of 32 countries gathered in Evian-les-Baines in France to discuss what to do with the Jews who needed to emigrate. Only one of these countries agreed to take in European Jews.
Which country was it?
I know about this because I once supervised a research project about it.
It was the DR, right? There was a small community of German Jews there until the 70’s
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And we have a winner! Yes, you are absolutely right.
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Will you write about Hitler and Slavs too, or was it a part of Hitler and Jews post?
Some African country?
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There was a hint in the post. If I supervised a research project on the subject, where is this country likely to be located? 🙂
Here is an interesting distinction that Hitler was making between Jews and Slavs. Slavs were, to him, an inferior race. But Jews were not a race at all. And this was why they were so threatening. Hitler wanted to establish a racial world order. Slavs had a place in it for as long as they could be exploited as a mute workforce. But Jews were not a race and they disturbed the racial hierarchies with their very existence.
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Jews were an “anti-race” in opposition to the “Aryan race.”
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\ But Jews were not a race at all. And this was why they were so threatening.
Why not a race? There is genetic research which finds things in common among Jews, even if they have been living for hundreds of years in different countries. Israel is a country for a Jewish people. A people, not only a religion.
I don’t understand where “not a race” bit comes from, especially since Nazis themselves had a fixed idea how Jews look (a nose, black hair, etc) and put pictures & photos in their school books. Look the same, but not a race? How is it possible?
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“There is genetic research which finds things in common among Jews, even if they have been living for hundreds of years in different countries.”
“A people, not only a religion.”
“I don’t understand where “not a race” bit comes from, especially since Nazis themselves had a fixed idea how Jews look (a nose, black hair, etc) and put pictures & photos in their school books. Look the same, but not a race?”
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Is the “not a race” thing connected with jewish statelessness? It’s being hushed down in most of the history textbooks I read, but I am pretty sure that distinctions we have between culture, nation, race and state weren’t really there in the 19th and 20th century.
This isn’t necessarily that weird or even that stupid if you, say, assume that acquired/learned (and therefore cultural) traits are biologically inheritable, which people in fact did for a while.
There was a real effort to make damned sure that you could put a “=” between various combinations of these four concepts, and some of these combinations (like national literature and dissolution of most of the old empires) have worked out better than others.
If you assume that all “races” have states (say, by treating the idea of “state is an instrument of power and violence” as a honour rightfully bestowed on a “conquering race”), that at least maybe would explain the “jews are not a race” thing.
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Yes, you are spot on. Statelessness is central to this vision of Jews. AND statelessness is precisely what Hitler promoted to start the Holocaust.
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\ Statelessness is central to this vision of Jews. AND statelessness is precisely what Hitler promoted to start the Holocaust.
What do you mean “promoted to start the Holocaust”? Stressed in his speeches?
This bit of history at least is taught in Israel. “Never again” means “we have a state now and will kill everybody ourselves, if necessary.”
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No, he destroyed the state. Jews were deported from the territory of Germany where the state was preserved to the territories where the state was being destroyed. Most Jews were not killed on the territory of Germany. The more stateless a territory was rendered, the greater was the number of Jews slaughtered there.
Let’s remember that it’s always the minority that benefits from the existence of state structures. And women, of course, benefit.
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I see you have been reading Timothy Snyder.
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I love my blog because everybody is so brilliant and people immediately know what I’m going on about and respond with great insights. This is very enjoyable.
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\ Is the “not a race” thing connected with jewish statelessness?
I am sure you are right. And it is still convenient to hush this down today, considering numerous people are still challenging Jewish right to a nation state. (Supposedly, on moral grounds.) It even happened to me several times on this very blog with several people.
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But, what is being referred to here is the recent work of Timothy Snyder and it is making a very different point than the Zionist/Anti-Zionist debate. Snyder’s claim is that the destruction of the Polish state which was anti-semitic greatly facilitated and was even a necessary pre-requisite for the Holocaust. If anything Snyder is claiming than non-Jewish states afforded a signficant degree of protection to the lives of Jews and that it was only in truly stateless areas that the Nazis could engage in genocide.
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I really love it how Snyder tries to show that the knowledge about Holocaust is crucial for understanding today’s erosion of the nation-state.
More on that later. . .
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“Lead by the United States” leading by inaction? The next bit of leading was sending the St. Louis back to Europe. It isn’t the kind of leading anybody should be proud of.
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Yes, absolutely. The leadership consisted in getting people together and asking them to take care of the problem.
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Only one of these countries agreed to take in European Jews.
Which country was it?
Denmark?
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It does start with a D, so we are going in the right direction. 🙂
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\ Let’s remember that it’s always the minority that benefits from the existence of state structures.
Yet antisemites have always accused Jews of destroying the nation state/s Jews were living in. A projection?
Including today: I read on Internet quite a few times how Jews are supposedly for unlimited immigration and destruction of borders. I think most European Jews are smart enough to be horrified at the thought of unlimited Muslim immigration which is currently going on. (Even honest Syrian refugees are in practice immigrants since they plan never to return to their former state.)
If old state structures are breaking down, like that Swedish woman said, what will happen to Europe’s minorities? If you think they’ll be OK, why? After all, majorities don’t like them and the state is going away (no police).
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Unsure how it’s connected to “today’s erosion of the nation-state” (but it, most likely, is), but, people, have you heard this?
60 killed in simultaneous Paris attacks
French President Francois Hollande evacuated from soccer stadium amid gunfire, reported explosions; at least 60 killed, 100 taken hostage.
…
The high number of casualities in the attacks made them the most deadly in France since World War II.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4725196,00.html
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Found a better article:
In a statement, French President Francois Hollande announced that a state of emergency would be imposed for the whole country, and that France would be closing its borders. As of right now, it’s not exactly clear what closing the borders means.
Britain’s Sky News is reporting on the situation live. You can watch their feed here:
What we don’t know
Who the attackers are. No group has claimed responsibility.
Whether the attacks were coordinated, or what the connection between them might be. US security officials told Reuters that they currently believe the attacks were coordinated, but information is still sketchy and subject to change.
The final death toll.
http://www.vox.com/2015/11/13/9732040/paris-attacks
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Oh God. WTF is going on???
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
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