The Effect of World War II on migration in Germany.

The debacle of World War II had a profound effect on migration, and most of these migrants were The Jewish people that had resided in Germany before and during the war. As a result of the anti-Semitic climate of the war, thousands of Jews were forced to take on refugee status and flee their homeland toward areas like Australia, North America and other countries.

Jews are members of the Semitic people descended from the ancient Hebrews and are the subjects of a thousand year old hatred.  Although, the term Antisemitism (discrimination against Jewish people) was coined in 1879 anti-Jewish agitation has existed for thousands of years. Largely regarded as the murderers of Jesus Christ, Jews became universally and outwardly hated. They were regarded by Christians as uncanny, demonic creatures, involved in international conspiracy and guilty of the ritual murder of Christian children.  Throughout history as Christianity dominated the world, Jews have been politically discriminated against and have been forced to live in ghettos as they were economically crippled by business restrictions that were foisted upon them.

However, with the emergence of the French Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Jewish people experienced less persecution, though acceptance was superficial. With the rise of the Industrial Revolution, Jews began playing a significant role as entrepreneurs in the burgeoning industries and businesses. They became perceivable symbols of modernization. The Catholic Church though, still had strong Anti- Semitic elements and propagated anti-Jewish sentiments.

By the mid-19^th century there was the talk of race. According to these opinions, humanity was divided into “higher” and “lower” races. Jews, along with Africans were a mongrel race. Then, there was the emergence of anti-Jewish parties and organizations in Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia and Romania. Though anti-Jew parties did not receive many votes, the detestation of Jews was not only widespread, but socially acceptable.

Many Germans blamed the Jews for Germany’s defeat in World War I, some believing that German Jews betrayed their country during the war. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler used the general anti-Semitic atmosphere in the post war time frame and his generally charismatic nature to incite a rabid hatred of the Jews in Germany. He too blamed Germany’s failure in the war on the Jews, claiming that were involved in an international Jewish conspiracy and began using words such as extermination, where they were concerned. The Nazis believed that they were responsible for a degeneracy of modern society, and that Nazism was a doctrine of world salvation to regain humanity. 

Hitler at a rally.

As soon as the Nazis gained power, and Hitler was made chancellor, they made the eradication of Jews central to their regime. They began with the boycott of Jewish owned establishments and Jewish professionals but found that insufficient in their quest to completely eradicate the Jews. Marriage and sexual relations were forbidden between those of “Jewish Blood” and “Pure Germans.”  The Nazis deprived Jews of all civil rights and at first aimed their policies at expelling Jews from Germany. By 1938, two thirds of the Jews in Germany fled the country.   

Table showing Jewish emigration out of Nazi Germany: 1933- 1938.

After the Night of Broken Glass in Germany in 1938, many Jews began to consciously fear for their lives and the lives of their families. Thus, Jewish migration increased exponentially. Approximately 36,000 Jews left Germany in 1938 and 77,000 in 1939. This created  a refugee crisis as many countries, as is the case today, were adverse to taking in large amounts of refugees on account of the ever-present and unfounded fear of being overtaken by another race.

 The Warsaw ghetto uprising: Jews are marched out of a burning Warsaw.

Families are held at gunpoint as they are herded out of Warsaw. 

They were met, of course with difficulty in getting out of the country. The Nazi government imposed heavy taxes on emigration and property to restrict the Jewish leaving the country into places where they could not continue to persecute them, though their initial plans had been to simply expel Jews from Germany.

Jewish migration began mostly to Australia. Jews were fleeing the beginnings of extermination with their families. They were being rounded up and shipped off to the unknown and were being shot in front of mass graves they had been made to dig.

Today, a large Jewish community still exists in Australia. It had grown exponentially during the pre-war period, as Jews were seeking refuge. In the period of 1933 to 1939, close to 8,000 Jews arrived in Australia and over 5,000 in 1939. These became known there as the thirty-niners. Though one would entertain the notion that most of the Jewish people migrated before the Holocaust, fleeing from their imminent demise, this is not true. The largest number of Jewish immigrants arriving in Australia came after the war. Over 17,000 Jews arrived in Sydney between 1946 and 1954. The Jews continued to arrive, and by 1961 another 10,000 had crossed into Australian borders. After World War II the Jewish population in Australia had almost tripled in size, from around 23,000 to 60,000.

Jewish refugees aboard the S.S Exodus.

Jewish migration to Australia. 

During the period of 1938- 1939, 10,000 unaccompanied Jewish minors were taken into the United Kingdom. Approximately 282,000 Jews left Germany, as well as 117,000 from Austria. These continued on to the United States, Palestine, Great Britain and Central and South America. Some Jewish people also took refuge in Shanghai, China.

German-Jewish children approaching the United States of America in 1939.

World War II was almost completely responsible for the Jewish communities spread across the world today. The large Jewish communities in the United States and Australia became so because these two countries both took the majority of refugees from Germany before, during and after the war. Certain countries, especially those in Europe, imposed strict quotas on the amount of refugees they were taking into their countries. This may have been because many European countries were, and remain to this day, anti-Semites, because of a perceived lack of resources to facilitate these people, or simply xenophobia. The Pope and the Vatican, though proclaimed in during this period not to be anti-Jewish, Hitler, the Nazis and their regime received no opposition from them during the entire catastrophe. They claimed that this is because they were required to remain neutral parties to the entire affair. Other countries have claimed that they wanted to maintain neutrality and to provide asylum for Jews would have been the same as declaring the Nazis their enemies. Thus, though migration occurred dramatically, many, especially the elderly and the disabled, were left behind to concentration camps and horrible deaths. As a result of the mass migration of World War two and the Holocaust, the population of Jews in Europe has gone from 9.5 million to about 3.5 million.

Refugees from the Caribbean.

The Caribbean is no stranger to the term refugee. Some 300,000 to 400,000 Haitians have entered the U.S., the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos and other West Indian islands. These Haitians have fled their country for many issues, including political and economic reasons. This is because Haiti remains the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and governmental corruption has led to terrible consequences for the country and its people. Unlike refugees from Germany, Haitian refugees did not leave because their lives were in immediate danger; however, similarly to the Jews, they have had many difficulties in entering countries and being granted asylum there. For example, while Cuba does take in Haitian refugees, they only keep them for a short time, and then they must leave. Migrants to the U.S are greatly discriminated against also.

A group of Haitian refugees.

An Area for Future Research.

New research can be done on the aftermath of German migration:

• What effects have they had on the countries they now reside in?
• How have they recovered from WWII?
• Have they integrated well into their new homelands?

References.

Holocaust Encyclopedia. June 10th 2013. THE HOLOCAUST AND WORLD WAR II: TIMELINE. Accessed November 19, 2013. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007653

Holocaust Encyclopedia. June 10th 2013. GERMAN JEWISH REFUGEES, 1933–1939. Accessed November 19, 2013. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005468

Holocaust Encyclopedia. June 10th 2013. INTRODUCTION TO THE HOLOCAUST. Accessed November 19, 2013. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005143

Holocaust Encyclopedia. June 10th 2013. KRISTALLNACHT: A NATIONWIDE POGROM, NOVEMBER 9–10, 1938. Accessed November 19, 2013. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005201

IJS. 2006. JEWISH IMMIGRATION AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR"THE TRANSFORMATION OF A COMMUNITY". Accessed November 10, 2013. http://www.ijs.org.au/Jewish-Immigration-after-the-Second-World-War/default.aspx

Jewish Virtual Library. 2013. The Holocaust: An Introductory History. Accessed November 1, 2013. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/history.html

William & Mary. 2013. Jewish Immigrants in Australia Before, During, and After WWII. Accessed October 29, 2013. http://web.wm.edu/so/monitor/issues/15-1/2-kepple.pdf

Cultural Survival. 2013. HAITIAN REFUGEES. Accessed November 19, 2013. http://www.culturalsurvival.org/ourpublications/csq/article/haitian-refugees

Prezi. October 24, 2012. Jewish Migration before and after WWII. Accessed November 19, 2013. http://prezi.com/euvboyz5xmxg/jewish-migration-before-and-after-wwii/