# Hitler and the Moslems-Why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 20, 2015, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-and-the-moslems-why/735225 "2015-10-20T12:44:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-and-the-moslems-why/735225/21 "2015-10-21T01:08:06Z")
I thought that was the Danes, and maybe the Swedes, too. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-and-the-moslems-why/735225/22 "2015-10-21T01:26:19Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > I thought that was the Danes, and maybe the Swedes, too. The Danes rings a bell. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-and-the-moslems-why/735225/23 "2015-10-21T01:31:11Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > The SS division with alot of Bosnian muslims fought against Serb partisans with some degree of success at first but had to retreat into Germany with the arrival of the Russians. The Soviets never reached Yugoslavia; thus Tito was able to be independent of Soviet pressure and military presence. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-and-the-moslems-why/735225/24 "2015-10-21T01:55:19Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > The Soviets never reached Yugoslavia; thus Tito was able to be independent of Soviet pressure and military presence. Yes, they did. In fact, it’s the 71st anniversary of the liberation of Belgrade. Soviet troops under Tolbukhin, with the help of Yugoslav Partisans, took Belgrade on October 20, 1944. Then the Soviets turned west into Hungary. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-and-the-moslems-why/735225/25 "2015-10-21T06:07:39Z")
> [@dofe](#): > > Why do you spell the word as moslem, instead of the more commonly used Muslim? I’m curious. Too difficult to spell Mohammedan? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-and-the-moslems-why/735225/26 "2015-10-21T06:34:30Z")
The “Moslem” spelling was still fairly current not so long ago. Unless memory fails me, it was still often spelled that way when I began devouring books on history and geography, around 1967-ish. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-and-the-moslems-why/735225/27 "2015-10-21T06:45:01Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > How did this square with…the Nazi party’s general disgust at religion? I think what the Nazi disgust at religion really boiled down to, in many cases, was a perception of Roman Catholic and Protestant Christianity, the European default religion, as a rival for the citizens’ loyalty to the regime, and hence a threat to its power. In this light, Islam was presumably considered to be little if any threat in terms of challenging the regime. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-and-the-moslems-why/735225/28 "2015-10-21T08:08:55Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > The Danes rings a bell. Germany was already on its way when Danish Jews were snuck into neutral Sweden right before Denmark surrendered. So I don’t think it was either of those nations. Denmark was not very accommodating of the occupied forces, and Germany was relatively kind to Denmark, whom they considered part of the master race. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-and-the-moslems-why/735225/29 "2015-10-21T10:53:55Z")
> [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > **Germany was already on its way when Danish Jews were snuck into neutral Sweden right before Denmark surrendered.** So I don’t think it was either of those nations. > > Denmark was not very accommodating of the occupied forces, and Germany was relatively kind to Denmark, whom they considered part of the master race. Nitpick: saving of Denmark’s Jews by moving them to Sweden was done by the Danish Resistance in the latter stages of the war, when German intention to round them up for deportation had become clear and imminent. https:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescue\_of\_the\_Danish\_Jews I understand that Bulgaria – though an ally of Nazi Germany by choice – also did a pretty good job of protecting its Jews. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-and-the-moslems-why/735225/30 "2015-10-21T17:01:40Z")
In the news today: Benjamin Netanyahu claims (without evidence) it was really that wily mufti who tricked Hitler into killing the Jews: [Netanyahu Reduced to Defending Hitler. Really … - TPM – Talking Points Memo](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/netanyahu-reduced-to-defending-hitler-really) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-and-the-moslems-why/735225/31 "2015-10-21T17:48:09Z")
You hear that sound? That’s me banging my head against the table. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-and-the-moslems-why/735225/32 "2015-10-21T17:48:30Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > I understand that Bulgaria – though an ally of Nazi Germany by choice – also did a pretty good job of protecting its Jews. Bulgaria refused to hand its Jews over to the Germans, but the Germans took the Jews from the parts of Greece and Yugoslavia under Bulgarian military administration. Bulgaria was in a really odd position in WW2; it signed on with the Axis under pressure to allow the passage of Axis forces through it to invade Greece and Yugoslavia. While it got a slice of both countries in the occupation, its forces didn’t enter those countries until after they had surrendered. Bulgaria didn’t declare war against the USSR when Germany invaded on June 22, 1941, but was pressured into a token declaration of war against the United States and the United Kingdom on December 13, 1941 by Germany. Bulgaria never declared war against the USSR and in August 1944 with the Soviets chasing the Germans out of Romania Bulgaria declared it was neutral in the conflict and ordered all German forces to leave Bulgaria. The Soviets were having none of that and with their troops approaching the Bulgarian border declared war on Bulgaria. When the Soviets reached and crossed the Bulgarian border, the Bulgarian Army by order of the government didn’t offer any resistance to them, and on September 8th Bulgaria switched sides and declared war on Germany. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-and-the-moslems-why/735225/33 "2015-10-21T19:06:36Z")
> [@TSBG](#): > > In the news today: Benjamin Netanyahu claims (without evidence) it was really that wily mufti who tricked Hitler into killing the Jews: > > [Netanyahu Reduced to Defending Hitler. Really … - TPM – Talking Points Memo](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/netanyahu-reduced-to-defending-hitler-really) Ha, that’s what I came in to say. Just saw it on CNN. Wish there had been a Doper in the room during Netanyahu’s speech, standing up and shrieking “ciiiiiiiiiiite!?” when Bibi went like so: > [@](#): > > “Hitler didn’t want to exterminate the Jews at the time, he wanted to expel the Jews,” Netanyahu said Tuesday at the 37th Zionist Congress, according to a transcript on his website. "And Haj Amin al-Husseini went to Hitler and said, ‘If you expel them, they’ll all come here.’ > > “‘So what should I do with them?’ (Hitler) asked. (Husseini) said, ‘Burn them.’” And apropos this: > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I thought that when Hitler asked the Finns, “Send me your Jews” their guy replied, “Why don’t you try to come and get them?” > [@cmkeller](#): > > I thought that was the Danes, and maybe the Swedes, too. To be clear, neither Finland nor Sweden were occupied by the Germans during WWII. Denmark and Norway were. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-and-the-moslems-why/735225/34 "2015-10-21T19:14:50Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I thought that when Hitler asked the Finns, “Send me your Jews” their guy replied, “Why don’t you try to come and get them?” The Finns were German allies (until right at the end of the war when the terms of a peace treaty with the soviets forced the to declare war on Germany). ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-and-the-moslems-why/735225/35 "2015-10-21T19:15:57Z")
Finland was a member of the Axis, why would the Germans occupy it? ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-and-the-moslems-why/735225/36 "2015-10-21T19:24:05Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Finland was a member of the Axis, why would the Germans occupy it? The statement was that the Muslim king of Morocco was the only leader of a Nazi OCCUPIED country to oppose the deportation of the Jews from their country. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-and-the-moslems-why/735225/37 "2015-10-21T19:30:42Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > The statement was that the Muslim king of Morocco was the only leader of a Nazi OCCUPIED country to oppose the deportation of the Jews from their country. Steken pointed out that Finland was not occupied by the Germans. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-and-the-moslems-why/735225/38 "2015-10-21T19:40:03Z")
To make it even more confusing, there were Germans in Finland, fighting Russia. The Finns had an withdrawal agreement with Germany, but the Russians made Finland [kick them out.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_Finland_during_World_War_II#Interim_peace) ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-and-the-moslems-why/735225/39 "2015-10-21T19:54:45Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > Bulgaria refused to hand its Jews over to the Germans, but the Germans took the Jews from the parts of Greece and Yugoslavia under Bulgarian military administration. Bulgaria was in a really odd position in WW2; it signed on with the Axis under pressure to allow the passage of Axis forces through it to invade Greece and Yugoslavia. While it got a slice of both countries in the occupation, its forces didn’t enter those countries until after they had surrendered. Bulgaria didn’t declare war against the USSR when Germany invaded on June 22, 1941, but was pressured into a token declaration of war against the United States and the United Kingdom on December 13, 1941 by Germany. > > Bulgaria never declared war against the USSR and in August 1944 with the Soviets chasing the Germans out of Romania Bulgaria declared it was neutral in the conflict and ordered all German forces to leave Bulgaria. The Soviets were having none of that and with their troops approaching the Bulgarian border declared war on Bulgaria. When the Soviets reached and crossed the Bulgarian border, the Bulgarian Army by order of the government didn’t offer any resistance to them, and on September 8th Bulgaria switched sides and declared war on Germany. Thanks – I wasn’t aware of the details. Reading them as above – strong temptation to feel, “Dear Lord, what a mess”; but no doubt the Bulgarians were acting in the way that seemed at the time, the “least worst” from their point of view. ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-and-the-moslems-why/735225/40 "2015-10-21T20:19:35Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > The statement was that the Muslim king of Morocco was the only leader of a Nazi OCCUPIED country to oppose the deportation of the Jews from their country. Sultan. Mohamed V self-changed title in 1957. The Morocco was not Nazi occupied but under the collaborationist Vichy regime rule at the time of his refusal. The same Vichy troupes and officials that actually fired on and seriously fought against the Americans landings in the novembre 1942, the operation Torch. The Vichy regime that actively in fact collaborated with the Nazis in the other territories in sending the Jewish populations to their deaths. The Sultan refused the application of any of the vichy-nazi laws on the Moroccan jews. And the risk of being deposed - in fact the French later did so. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-and-the-moslems-why/735225.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-and-the-moslems-why/735225.md?page=3)