They were concerned, but they were behind the Germans, who had at first disguised its buildup. Also, a democracy cannot go on a war footing on the whim and orders of the leader, but needs to create a coalition of disparate parties, and, as our Yurpeen members like to point out, differences between America’s political parties are nearly nonexistent compared with the parties in Europe, some of which could have admired Hitler less. And, as you suggest, there was no small amount of self-delusion going on. It all added up to the sad fact that, in 1938, only France had a military large enough to take on Germany and it lagged technically.
**Dropzone **writes;
This is not entirely true. There certainly was variance across countries when it comes to the extent to which resistance was put up against extermination of Jews. The Netherlands, sadly, was (and still is) a well organized country where the Jews were neatly registered so the Germans could drive up their lorries and pick them up. As a result, of all the countries occupied by the Germans, the Netherlands has the highest percentage of Jews that were killed. Other countries, such as Denmark and (I believe) Bulgaria, but also fascist Italy, were no so cooperative, which resulted in a much larger percentage of the Jews surviving the war there than in the Netherlands.
Therefore, while what **villa **says
might be true, but it is not the entire picture.
As to the OP, I actually believe that the Madagascar idea was much more widespread pre-holocaust than is being suggested here, not only among Nazi’s but generally among intelligentsia across Western Europe. It might even be the case that there were some branches of zionism who considered moving there, but I have no cite for that.
No: Churchill for one was constantly telling people. But those in power simply didn’t want to know. That said, I’ve seen it mooted that later on, things - including Chamberlain’s famous bit of paper - were a desperate delaying tactic.
Is fossa kosher?
I’ve read in several sources that Hitler really didn’t want to go to war with Britain, as he considered them an Aryan people.
As a matter of law, the United States did not put a limit on the number of Jewish immigrants that could enter the country. However, under the direction of the loathsome Breckenridge Long, the State Department did actively work to prevent Jewish refugees from receiving asylum in the US.
Actually, I was talking about nations capable of going up against the Germany in a fair fight and stopping it in the mid-late 30s, not ones where the civilian population had to make do on their own.
There was an interesting (but not interesting enough to keep me from bailing halfway through to try to get my new cable modem working–I had no idea I’d need some of its information the next day! 
) program on our other PBS station about the Dutch Resistance’s efforts to save the Dutch Jews. One old man still regretted they hadn’t realized what was going on earlier because they could’ve saved more.
[aside] Daughter: “I know he’s speaking English but I can barely understand him.”
Me: “Really? Because of Father Hans (our priest when I was a kid who had been an early teen in Occupied Netherlands) I used to talk kinda like that, except with a Virginia/Minnesota accent, and still have to watch my construction so I don’t fall into it again.” [/aside]
IIRC, not even the Vichy, as a group, were all that helpful and many more Jews were exported from Occupied France than Vichy France.
It’s one of the great ironies of the war that the Jewish populations of those coutries that allied themselves with the Germans were largely spared extermination, which is why the Jewish communities of Bulgaria, Roumania, Hungary and North Africa mostly escaped unscathed (which is why Jews from those coutries make up a such a significant portion of Israel’s population). It seems as though the prevailing attitude of the leaders of those countries was, “We may be antisemitic, but we’re not THAT antisemitic, and we’d thank you if you didn’t kill any of our citizens.” My wife’s late grandfather was a Bulgarian Jew, and he spent the entire war in a work camp - an *actual * work camp, with decent food and living conditions and the occasional furlough.
However, the situation probably wouldn’t havebeen allowed to last. Had Hitler won the war, I doubt he would have permitted any “loose ends” like a large Jewish community in Eastern Wurope. Eventually, he would have found a way to get to them, too.
One of the more unusual aspects of the war is that Germany’s farther allies - Finland, Bulgaria and Romaina were not really bad guys. They got stuck on the a stick with Russia on one side and Germany on the other, and well, life sucks.
Nitpick - Bulgaria never had any problem with Russia, which is why it never actually declared war on the Soviet Union. Their primary reason for joining the Axis was to kill Greeks.
Hitler told us in Mien Kampf what he would do with the Jews if Britain had made peace after the Fall of France (As he predicted it would).
He was going to invade the USSR and set up work camps in Russia where all the Jewry of Continental Europe and Russia would shipped to labor camps (and worked to death though he doesn’t actually say this last bit).
Whether some underlings floated a Madagascar idea or not I can’t say - but ultimately I take der Fuhrer at his word on this matter.
IMO the Madagascar thing was a fairy tail to distract world attention just like the use of the words Concentration Camps which prior to ww2 did NOT mean death camps and the whole "resettling"Jews in the East BS.
The fact is that Germany did not have the logistical capability to move large numbers of people via rail followed by along sea journey requiring a large fleet of transport and passenger carrying ships EVEN IN PEACE TIME.
I think the term was probably used as a lighthearted off the cuff comment during a meeting and was never intended to or be taken as a serious comment.
Frankly I find it ridiculous that there are people credulous enough to even repeat it let alone consider the liklihood of it having been considered an option.
It reminds me very much of the old saying that the entire population of the world could be put on Zanzibar if they were all standing up.(I’ll bet its not true now though)
Here’s the memo:
The plan was by Franz Rademacher, who, at the time, was the head of the “Jew Unit” of the foreign affairs ministry. When the plan fell through, he was put in charge of handling the deportation of Serbian Jews and then Jews in France and the Low Countries.
Anyway, the memo, if you want a summary, the plan suggested the following
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As part of the peace treaty, Germany gets Madagascar as a mandate from France
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All French citizens to be evacuated from Madagascar and relocated in France, at French expense.
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German naval and air bases be set up on those parts of the island that are appropriate.
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The rest of the island be established as a Jewish territory under German control. The Jews to have their own internal government under a governor selected by the SS.
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All Jewish assets in Europe to be confiscated in payment for the establishment of the territory.
Advantages:
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Madagascar is only a mandate, so Jews living there wouldn’t gain German citizenship. However, they’d lose citizenship of whatever country they were from
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It would prevent the possible establishment of Jewish state in Palestine. A Jewish state in Palestine would let the Jews exploit the symbolic importance Jerusalem has for Christians and Muslims.
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The Jews in Madagascar would serve as hostages to make sure American Jews didn’t cause trouble.
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It could be used for propaganda purposes.
Oh yes, and the RN is going to blithely let the Kriegsmarine sail through the Suez canal, or past South Africa - that is, through the most vital Allied merchant marine shipping channels after the Atlantic convoy route. Further proof, if it were needed, that the Third Reich had a rich fantasy life.
Again, my understanding is that this would take place only in the absence of a conflict with the British Empire and the US. The Allied willingness to go to war with Germany over the fate of Slave Races and such probably baffled Hitler.
The Hungarian Jews did not escape unscathed, 2/3 of the Hungarian Jewish community was killed - admittedly after the German take-over of Hungary.
As well as 50% of Rumania’s Jews, 22% of Bulgaria’s, and 20% of Italy’s, in each of those cases, mostly after direct German occupation.
Actually, even in occupied France, things were still ran by Vichy french authorities, french civil servants, french police officers, etc… So, even though it might be true that more Jews were deported from occupied France (and actually, the rounding up of Parisian Jews in one day in 1942, with 13 000 arrests, alone, made up for 15% of total of the Jews deported from France, and close to 30% of the total of the french Jews deported) this was overwhelmingly organized by french authorities.
Actually, the main difference wasn’t really between Jews living in occupied France and in Vichy France (especially not since southern France too was military occupied after 1942) but between french Jews and foreign Jews living in France (refugees, illegal immigrants, and some people recently naturalized who were “denaturalized”, all mostly coming from eastern europe and Germany). Each group represented roughly half of the total Jewish population in France, and maybe 8% of the formers and 50% of the latters were deported.