I was watching a documentary on the holocaust tonight on The History Channel. One question I have is how were the Jews identified? Was there a pre-WWII requirement to identify yourself as a Jew?
I noticed the Jews also had a star of david attached to their clothing. I would think it would be easy to disappear before they started rounding them up for the labor camps and death camps.
My wag is that either a census was taken, and Jews were identified like that, or Germans hung out in (or had spies) watching the activity around the neighborhood synagogues. I also assume that they would have papers identifying themselves as jews, making border crossings a bit more difficult.
If it were me, I’d remove the star from my jacket, cut my hair and take my chances to blend in with the Germans and get the hell out of there.
It would mean that you would have been able to live, you and your family, under an assumed identity, for several years. Easier to say than to do. Remember also that at the time you would choose to dissapear, you wouldn’t know about concentration camps.
As for getting the hell out of here, it would mean quiting your house, job, country, etc…to live with your family as a refugee in a foreign country. And once again making this decision without insights about concentration camps. Finally, even if you did that, and fled to a neighboring country (which is more logical than fleeing to some more remote place), and assuming the said country would let you in (which is not a given), you would be out of luck anyway, except if you picked Switzerland (and possibly Denmark). In 1939 or 1940, depending on the country you went to, you would be back to Germany anyway.
Arm bands were worn by prisoners in the concentration camps and ghettos to identify and categorize people by color code.
Green Triangle - Political Prisoner
Red Triangle - Communist
Pink Triangle - Homosexual
Black Triangle - Vagrant/Homeless
SS Band - Concentration Camp Guard
Camp Uniform Patches
These yellow stars, sewn to prisoners’ uniforms, indicated that the wearer was a Jew.
Arm Bands to Identify Jews
Yellow Star with Gray Band - Denoted Warsaw and Kronstadt ghettos.
Blue Star - Thierenstadt Ghetto, an “ideal” compound set-up to deceive the Red Cross.
Kapo Armband - This armband was worn by prisoners that policed other prisoners.
Also, I remember seeing on tv where if a solider suspected someone being a Jew (maybe a spy), they would make them drop there pants. Only Jewish men where circumcised, so they could tell that way too.
That would mean you would be able, you and your family, to live under an assumed identity for several years. Easier to say than to do. Would you be able to do that tomorrow, if need be? To get fake ID, for instance? And you would have to make this decision without insights about the concentration camps, etc…
Concerning “getting the hell out of there”, it would mean leaving your house, job, etc…to live with your family as a refugee in a foreign country. At which point would you consider this as a viable option? Assuming you would have actually done that and fled to a neighboring country (which is more logical than to some remote place), and assuming that said country would have let you in (which isn’t a given), you would be out of luck anyway, since you would have been back to Germany in 1939 or 1940, depending on the country you picked (except Switzerland and possibly Denmark).
Stating : if I had been in this or that situation, and had had a perfect knowledge of the future, I would have made the correct decision is extremely easy, and meaningless.
In the mid-30’s a census was taken. It asked detailed information about family history. With the help of IBM data processing machines all the Jews were “weeded out”.
For more information I suggest you read IBM and The Holocaust by Edwin Black.
I had heard something about the IBM connection. Thank you for the book suggestion.
clairobscur,
you make some valid points. I guess the thrust of my question is answered via a number of different factors. This would include Nazi propaganda that was so good that Jews did not immediately fear for their safety, as well as the factors you mention. I don’t pretend for one second that leaving everything behind would be easy, or creating a new identity would be a walk in the park. Not to mention the very real problem of being welcomed in by another country.
Is it fair to assume that everyone was subjected to a search, and they had to have the right paperwork? Was it a photo ID? Let’s say I was a single, Jewish male, and was willing to leave any family or friends behind. What would stop me from stealing another man’s papers, taking off the armband, and blending in with the German public?
I guess I’m looking for how the Germans enforced this.
Well, some Jews did escape, IIRC, but they relied on a network of people prepared to hide and support them, at considerable risk to themselves. On your own you might avoid detection for a day or two, but sooner or later you’re going to need to draw money out of your bank account to buy food, or turn up for work, or present your papers to a policman who finds you sleeping rough, or whatever.
Remember, by the time the final solotion got under way, Germany had been at war for several years, and getting out of the country was next to impossible.
As far as “getting the Hell out of there” Most countries would not accept Jews. I won’t get into whether the Govts. truly knew their refusal to accept them did/or did not include the knowledge that these people were being sent to Camps – a very controversial question. But the Bottomline is that you couldn’t just “pack up” and vamos unless you had a place to go.
Recall also that the vast majority of the Jews killed were from Poland (20% of World Jewry in 1939) and elsewhere in the East. These folks had little reason to believe until September 1, 1939 that they were in any danger whatsoever. On September 21, 1939, a conference was held in Berlin and the long-term future of Polish Jewry was discussed. Reinhard Heydrich, the Chief of the Reich Central Security Office, reported that as a “prerequisite of the ultimate aim”, all Jews were to be concentrated in the larger cities and large areas of western Poland “should be cleared completely of Jews” or at least have them “concentrated in a few concentration centers as possible”. Pictures of the Triangles are at the bottom. http://www.candles-museum.com/david.htm
As far as Identification in Germany the Nuremburg Laws of 1935 required Jews to Register http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/jger33.htm.
In Poland tunder the occupation the Nazi controlled police offered a 500 DM reward for turning in a Jew & (possible) execution of the whole family for hiding one.
Of course, it depends on how well known you were as a Jew in the first place. If you were an orthodox Jew in 1935 who went to Synagogue every week, you were going to have a difficult time concealing your faith. If on the other hand you were a lifelong practicing Catholic who had one long dead Jewish grandparent, you could conceal this relatively easily. But the SS had a special office set up for the purpose of examining suspect geneologies and determining who had Jewish ancestors.
Even so, there were probably hundreds or even thousands of Jews that did simply go “underground”. I’ve read that many German Jews joined the army because the military prevented the SS from doing background investigations on soldiers.
The other sanctuary was Hungary, where the local fascist government (which was a German ally) refused to turn over any Hungarian citizens, including Jews, to the Nazis. For this reason, the Hungarian Jews were mostly safe until the Germans occupied Hungary late in the war.
