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As
a rule, the greater the independence a state had, the more likely
were the Jews to survive. Conversely, the Jews of countries ruled
directly or almost directly by Germany (Soviet Union, Poland,
Serbia, the Netherlands) had only the slimmest chances of survival.
As long as Italy remained a full-fledged ally of Germany (until
September 1943), the Jews there were not only untouched but, in
Italian-occupied territories, were also protected. Romanian military
forces murdered great numbers of Jews at the frontiers of their
territories, but the government refused to hand over Jews in their
core territories to the Germans. The Hungarian government did not
accede to Nazi pressure to deport Hungarian Jewry until the Germans
occupied Hungary in March 1944. During the occupation, however,
Hungarian forces played a major role in the deportation. The
Bulgarian regime protected the Jews in its traditional territories,
but those of the annexed areas of Macedonia and Thrace were deported
to their deaths.
Puppet
states either brutally murdered their own Jews (Croatia) or turned
them over to the Germans (Slovakia). Semi-sovereign Vichy France
collaborated in the deportation of non-French Jews but by and large
protected those who held French citizenship. The Jews of Denmark
lived safely as long as a semblance of Danish independence was
maintained; only when the Germans began encroaching on this
independence did it become necessary to save the Danish Jews by
smuggling them to Sweden. To the great credit of the Danish people,
they managed to save almost all of the Jews residing in their
country. |
