Divisions shaping Jewish society in National Socialist Germany

The standard theory that "all Nazis hated al Jews" is often accepted as the politically correct thing to believe. Sadly that belief breeds mischief and can sow the seeds of future strife. The more rational truth is that Nazi's had both good and bad in their ranks. Similarly Jewish people in Europe had both good and bad in their ranks. The same logic holds true for subdivisions of people - e.g. the German Police Force or Jewish communists.

The path to understanding what really motivated all parties is to study their major divisions; their hopes and aspirations, and see the development of events through the eyes of each group. If events only make sense by criminalizing an entire group, one has missed out on something vitally important. Some groups are more highly motivated than others and likely have different moral standards to others. These should all be weighed against one another in order to understand events.

With that in mind, let us take a brief look at the major divisions shaping society in Nazi Germany.

MAJOR GERMAN JEWISH DIVISIONS

• Jews who have lost their Jewish identity and are totally absorbed into German society.

• Jews who view themselves as an independent group and wish to rule themselves in a land of their own.

• Jews who view themselves as an independent group, but have no desire to leave the comforts of their host country.

• People from amongst the above groups who support a Marxist revolution in Germany.

Obviously there are further complications such as military background, age and religion, but in the interest of simplicity we will consider mainly those listed above.

Other important factors:

• The majority of German Jews are Ashkenazi, who on average have a remarkably high verbal IQ. This is a genetic trait which results in those Jews naturally taking up top positions in society such as in medicine, politics and economics. This causes resentment in the general population who often suspect vile motives and conspiracies, which is typically not the case, except in politics.

• Jews are unique in world history in not permitting their society to merge significantly with that of host countries. This has protected their culture and genetic lineage for hundreds of years - to a large degree. This feature of Jewish society also includes mutual support across borders. Jews are more inclined to support their racial brethren than other cultures, but occasionally also prone to harm one another, perhaps not unusual in any race..

MAJOR GERMAN NON-JEWISH DIVISIONS

• Nationalists in Germany, also including Germans living adjacent to, but not part of Germany who were deprived of their German citizenship after the first world war.

• National Socialists who want better conditions for the common working class, but without involving foreign powers.

• Germans who support a Marxist/socialist revolution in Germany. This group is split into those who rabidly object to Jewish participation and/or leadership, and those who do not object to a Jewish role in the revolution.

These divisions are simplistic, but will do for now.

Other important factors:

• Germans have the highest technical ability, on average, in the world. This is an inherited trait and is the reason Germany was technically the world leader before the war.

• Germans were shamelessly abused by the treaty of Versailles and general resentment was a national fact. Combined with poverty coupled with international threats and impossible restitution payments, the German public were eager to improve their lot, and astounded and impressed by the obvious prosperity wrought by the Nazi government.

• Adolf Hitler was remarkable in his ability to keep disparate groups of people working together for a common cause. His high intelligence and habit of surrounding himself with others of high ability caused Germany to recover economically and be perceived as a threat by her trading partners, particularly Great Britain.

Adolf Hitler was an astute politician. He realized that a democratic victory could only be obtained by being inclusive to as many disparate factions as possible. In this he was deliberately vague, as is wont with politicians in every Western democracy. Adolf targeted Jewish communists as the enemy, but knew that the finer nuances would not be comprehensible to the average public, so his simplistic message was: "Blame the Jews and blame the communists - which is usually the same thing". This is a simple propaganda message which was popular with the electorate and got him elected.

Such duplicity is common in politics. When Adolf gained power he simply failed to implement certain policies he had previously hinted at, although still often giving them lip-service. For example, he had previously stated as an absolute principle that certain private property would be nationalied or confiscated, a sop to attract communist voters. Once in power Hitler did no such thing and after some time this caused unrest in the ranks. Some top National Socialists had first converted from being staunch Jew-haters and communist agitators to National Socialists, such as Julius Streicher and Ernst Rohm. Hitler was treating Jews far too lightly to their minds and they saw this as tantamount to treason. A plot to get rid of Hitler was hatched and the infamous "Night of the long knives" followed after the plot was discovered. Adolf Hitler was not an untouchable dictator. He constantly had to intervene and compromise with his supporters and antagonists, often unable to swing things his way but on average succeeding well enough for his purposes.

The new German government quickly had trouble from anti-Semites in their own ranks The international Jewish community declared economic war on Germany and the near-bankupt country was in a state of shock as foreign reserves quickly dwindled to zero. Of course the Jews were publicly blamed; quite correctly, for this state of affairs, though the majority of German Jews certainly had nothing to do with this. But many rabid anti-Semites among Hitler's supporters demanded action, and clearly something had to be done.

Adolf's method of dealing with his anti-semitic supporters over the Jewish problem was typically innovative, although misunderstood by many. He tried to find a formula which would solve the problem, cause minimum disruption and maximum long-term benefir to Germany. The chief supporters of the Jewish war against Germany were mostly German communists who in turn were mainly Jewish. Adolf had them rounded up and imprisoned in concentration camps. Then Adolf tried to find common ground with the Moderate Jews in Germany, and found that Zionists were eager to work together with him. The partnership held firm until the end of the war in 1945.

In practise this meant that all German Jewry had to be partitioned into sections:

• Germans with one or more Jewish grandparents were classed as "Jewish".

• Other Germans are not Jewish.

• On request or by decree, some Jews could be re-classified regardless of their Jewish ancestry. This happened to an astonishing degree, with Adolf Hitler himself signing a good many such re-classifications.

Jews who wished to emigrate to Palestine or elsewhere were treated well; discriminated against in a few respects and lavishly assisted in other respects. All Jews lost their German citizenship and were in certain categories limited as to their profession, but were permitted to have their own schools and living areas which were financially assisted by the German government. Those who emigrated were given lavish assistance to the extent that a chorus of complaints sounded from within the National Socialist hierarchy.

The overall situation was such that although many Jews emigrated - large numbers of them later decided to return to Germany as, despite the limitations imposed on Jews by the German Government, life was considerably better in Adolf the Great's revitalized Germany than in the financial depression which still ravaged the rest of the world. Most Jewish businesses in Germany continued to thrive without interference, even right through the war years.

Jews locked in concentration camps formed a minority there as these were mainly thecommunist and criminal elements in the Jewish community. The bulk of prisoners were German criminals, homosexuals and others.

The Gestapo and SS developed excellent relations with Zionist groups in Germany and Palestine. Soon an agreement was signed whereby approved Zionist representatives could visit any German concentration camp and recruit Jewish members for emigration to Palestine. The Zionist representative had total authority to select any or all Jewish inmates that were willing, and the Nazi government would assist financially. Zionists wanted Jews to emigrate, and the Nazis wanted Jews to leave. It was a match made in heaven.

The overwhelming support by Zionists also severely disrupted the international Jewish economic war against Germany. Things were going well. If some non-Zionist Jews grumbled and complained; well, that was just too bad. These were difficult times for everyone. The Jewish "problem" was resolving itself and Germany was rapidly emptying of undesired Jews. The process was peaceful and the economy improved for everyone in Germany. Because of this amazingly peaceful revolution Adolf Hitler was nominated for the Nobel peace prize by a group of Jews headed by Gertrude Stein.

It was too good to last. The international Jewish community was livid and took steps to halt all Jewish emigration from Germany. In this they were agonizingly successsful. Protests by Jewish organizations in Germany against the international Jewish war fell on deaf ears.

The Zionist Jew, Georg Kareski, repeatedly urged the Nazi government to introduce a Jewish Star of David, to be worn by Jews. Eventually his suggestion was accepted and On October 1939 it was ordered (by Chief of Defense Canaris) that this measure should be introduced in the General Government, and on September 15, 1941 it was ordered for the entire Reich.