# Nazis blaming the Jews for starting WW2--Did they actually believe it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 13, 2012, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazis-blaming-the-jews-for-starting-ww2-did-they-actually-believe-it/631322 "2012-08-13T00:39:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazis-blaming-the-jews-for-starting-ww2-did-they-actually-believe-it/631322/21 "2012-08-13T16:21:50Z")
Yes, it’s certainly difficult to imagine a bunch of right-wing demagogues rousing the rabble against a convenient “other” with insane conspiracy theories, isn’t it? Thank goodness we live in saner times. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazis-blaming-the-jews-for-starting-ww2-did-they-actually-believe-it/631322/22 "2012-08-13T21:19:11Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > I thought they blamed those warmongering Poles for [the Gleiwitz Incident](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleiwitz_incident) and other staged events, which they then used as justification for invading Poland. IOW, the war was already under way before England and the USA stepped in. I think you missed an I. Fiendish Astronaut asked about World War I not World War II. The Nazis probably did blame the Jews for starting the Great War. Heck, they blamed them for everything else. And World War I really was started by a secret organization, albeit one which apparently had no Jewish members. But the Nazis would just say, “Of course there were no known Jewish members. The Jews controlled the Black Hand secretly.” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazis-blaming-the-jews-for-starting-ww2-did-they-actually-believe-it/631322/23 "2012-08-13T21:20:12Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > Yes, it’s certainly difficult to imagine a bunch of right-wing demagogues rousing the rabble against a convenient “other” with insane conspiracy theories, isn’t it? Thank goodness we live in saner times. Well, we’ve cut back on the genocide, so that’s progress. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazis-blaming-the-jews-for-starting-ww2-did-they-actually-believe-it/631322/24 "2012-08-13T21:35:29Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I mean, they started WWI, then they caused the German Hyperinflation, then the Great Depression, then WWII-when do they ever quit? > Talk about gall, during the “Krystallnacht”, they had the effrontery to smash their own shop windows, then put in claims to German insurance companies! > They are diabolical, I tell ya! Of course this reminds me of an old joke ([I copy from Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_humour)): > [@](#): > > Rabbi Altmann and his secretary were sitting in a coffeehouse in Berlin in 1935. “Herr Altmann,” said his secretary, “I notice you’re reading _[Der Stürmer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_St%C3%BCrmer)_! I can’t understand why. A Nazi libel sheet! Are you some kind of masochist, or, God forbid, a [self-hating Jew](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-hating_Jew)?” > “On the contrary, Frau Epstein. When I used to read the Jewish papers, all I learned about were pogroms, riots in Palestine, and assimilation in America. But now that I read _Der Stürmer_, I see so much more: that the Jews control all the banks, that we dominate in the arts, and that we’re on the verge of taking over the entire world. You know – it makes me feel a whole lot better!” ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazis-blaming-the-jews-for-starting-ww2-did-they-actually-believe-it/631322/25 "2012-08-13T22:52:43Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Most likely, it was the Jews behind the scenes in the UK and France that led them to declare war after Germany rightfully attacked Poland. You’re joking, but that was actually argued in trials (of Jewish MP for instance) under the Vichy regime. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazis-blaming-the-jews-for-starting-ww2-did-they-actually-believe-it/631322/26 "2012-08-13T23:22:08Z")
Did millions of the R&F? Yes. Did Hitler? Maybe yes, maybe no. Did the people at the top? Oh hell no. Cynics, using the nation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazis-blaming-the-jews-for-starting-ww2-did-they-actually-believe-it/631322.md?page=1)