The claim that there was a Jewish war against Nazi Germany is an
antisemitic conspiracy theory
This is a list of conspiracy theories that are notable. Many conspiracy theories relate to clandestine government plans and elaborate murder plots. Conspiracy theories usually deny consensus or cannot be proven using the historical or scienti ...
promoted in
Nazi propaganda
The propaganda used by the German Nazi Party in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's dictatorship of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 to 1945 was a crucial instrument for acquiring and maintaining power, and for the implementation o ...
which asserts that Jews, acting as a single historical actor, started
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and sought the destruction of Germany. Alleging that war was declared in 1939 by
Chaim Weizmann
Chaim Azriel Weizmann ( he, חיים עזריאל ויצמן ', russian: Хаим Евзорович Вейцман, ''Khaim Evzorovich Veytsman''; 27 November 1874 – 9 November 1952) was a Russian-born biochemist, Zionist leader and Israel ...
, president of the
World Zionist Organization
The World Zionist Organization ( he, הַהִסְתַּדְּרוּת הַצִּיּוֹנִית הָעוֹלָמִית; ''HaHistadrut HaTzionit Ha'Olamit''), or WZO, is a non-governmental organization that promotes Zionism. It was founded as the ...
, Nazis used this false notion to justify the persecution of Jews under German control on the grounds that the Holocaust was
justified self-defense. Since the end of World War II, the conspiracy theory has been popular among
neo-Nazis
Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), attack ...
and
Holocaust deniers
Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements:
* ...
.
Origins
After the
Central Powers
The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in ...
' defeat in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, false rumors emerged in the
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
and Hungary alleging that the Jews in those countries conspired with foreign Jews in order to undermine the war effort (the
stab-in-the-back myth
The stab-in-the-back myth (, , ) was an antisemitic conspiracy theory that was widely believed and promulgated in Germany after 1918. It maintained that the Imperial German Army did not lose World War I on the battlefield, but was instead ...
). Some also accused European Jews of working together to start the war for the purpose of ruining Europe and leaving it vulnerable to "Jewish control". Jews were also blamed for manipulating the peace negotiations to produce an unsatisfactory result in the postwar treaties, for their own profit.
Nazis claimed that the
anti-Nazi boycott was an aggressive action by Jews, and launched the
Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses
The Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses () in Germany began on April 1, 1933, and was claimed to be a defensive reaction to the anti-Nazi boycott, which had been initiated in March 1933. It was largely unsuccessful, as the German population conti ...
in retaliation. The British ''
Daily Express
The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...
'' ran a headline on 24 March 1933 regarding the anti-Nazi boycott, stating "Judea Declares War on Germany", showing that such claims were not restricted to Nazi propaganda.
[ Before the war broke out, Nazi dictator ]Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
repeatedly opined that Jews posed a severe threat to Germany, including on 30 January 1939 when he gave his prophecy speech and predicted that a war caused by the Jews would lead to the "annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe".
World War II
For Hitler, the start of World War II confirmed the idea that there had been a Jewish conspiracy against Germany all along, even though Germany started the war by invading Poland. Historian Jeffrey Herf
Jeffrey C. Herf (born April 24, 1947) is an American historian of Modern European, in particular, modern German history. He is Distinguished University Professor of modern European at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Biography
He was born ...
writes that "According to Hitler's paranoid logic, the Jews had launched the war so that the Nazis would be compelled to wage a war of retaliation against the Jews of Europe." Herf also wrote that "the core of Nazism's narrative of World War II" was that
Scholar Randall Bytwerk writes: "The Nazis justified their attempt to exterminate the Jews by claiming that they were only defending themselves against Jewish plans to destroy Germany and its population." Historian Erik Sjöberg states: "the Nazis had convinced themselves that they were fighting a war in defense of the German race that the Jews had forced upon them. This was a lie perceived as truth by people who needed justification for murder."
In ''The German War
''The German War: A Nation Under Arms, 1939-1945'' is a non-fiction book written by historian Nicholas Stargardt. Centering upon the "thoughts and actions" of the citizens living inside Nazi Germany during the Second World War, the author argues ...
'', historian Nicholas Stargardt
Nicholas Stargardt (born in 1962) is Professor of History at Oxford University, currently serving as Vice President of Magdalen College.
Stargardt is the son of a German-Jewish father and Australian mother. He was born in Melbourne, Australia, ...
writes that by mid-1942, hard-line Nazi ideologues such as Martin Bormann
Martin Ludwig Bormann (17 June 1900 – 2 May 1945) was a German Nazi Party official and head of the Nazi Party Chancellery. He gained immense power by using his position as Adolf Hitler's private secretary to control the flow of information ...
thought that Germans "should be made to realise that they were now locked in a genocidal global conflict, which could end only with their victory or destruction". In response to queries about how to explain the "extremely harsh measures" taken against the Jews, Bormann told local Nazi operatives to justify, rather than deny, the systematic deportation that resulted in murder.
Weizmann's "declaration of war"
On 29 August 1939, World Zionist Organization
The World Zionist Organization ( he, הַהִסְתַּדְּרוּת הַצִּיּוֹנִית הָעוֹלָמִית; ''HaHistadrut HaTzionit Ha'Olamit''), or WZO, is a non-governmental organization that promotes Zionism. It was founded as the ...
president Chaim Weizmann
Chaim Azriel Weizmann ( he, חיים עזריאל ויצמן ', russian: Хаим Евзорович Вейцман, ''Khaim Evzorovich Veytsman''; 27 November 1874 – 9 November 1952) was a Russian-born biochemist, Zionist leader and Israel ...
wrote a letter to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician of the Conservative Party who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. He is best known for his foreign policy of appeasemen ...
, which included the following statement:
In Nazi propaganda, the letter was presented as a "Jewish declaration of war" against Nazi Germany, and a threat of an actual attack by "the Jews". The "Jewish declaration of war" became a common motif in right-wing antisemitism after World War II. The Nazis also claimed that Weizmann had sent a telegram in 1942 to a "Zionist group" stating: "The Jews desire their place in the ranks, among those who have as their goal the annihilation of Germany". No evidence that Weizmann sent such a telegram has been discovered.
The head of the Reich League of the German Press
''Reich'' (; ) is a German noun whose meaning is analogous to the meaning of the English word "realm"; this is not to be confused with the German adjective "reich" which means "rich". The terms ' (literally the "realm of an emperor") and ' (lit ...
, Otto Dietrich
Jacob Otto Dietrich (31 August 1897 – 22 November 1952) was a German SS officer during the Nazi era, who served as the Press Chief of the Nazi regime and was a confidant of Adolf Hitler.
Biography
Otto Dietrich was born in Essen, he served a ...
, issued directives requiring all German newspapers to promote the Jewish war conspiracy theory. One March 1943 directive required newspapers to report that: "The declaration of war by the Jews against the European nations resulted in energetic measures being taken against the Jews, not only in Germany but also in many other European states."
''Germany Must Perish!''
Nazi propaganda focused on and greatly exaggerated the importance of the self-published book ''Germany Must Perish!
''Germany Must Perish!'' is a 104-page book written by Theodore N. Kaufman, which he self-published in 1941 in the United States. The book advocated the sterilization of all Germans and the territorial dismemberment of Germany, believing that t ...
'' by the obscure American Jewish businessman Theodore N. Kaufman
Theodore Newman Kaufman (February 22, 1910 – April 1, 1986), sometimes given incorrectly as Theodore Nathan Kaufmann, was an American Jewish businessman and writer known for his genocidal views on Germans.
In 1939, he published pamphlets as " ...
, which was cited as proof that Jews desired to commit genocide against Nazi Germany.
1944 anti-Zionist campaign
In June 1944, Dietrich and Helmut Sündermann launched a campaign against Zionism, to promote the lie that the German war against Jews was defensive in nature. The origins of the Nazi genocide against the Jews were dated to 1929, when Weizmann founded the Jewish Agency
The Jewish Agency for Israel ( he, הסוכנות היהודית לארץ ישראל, translit=HaSochnut HaYehudit L'Eretz Yisra'el) formerly known as The Jewish Agency for Palestine, is the largest Jewish non-profit organization in the world. ...
. The imminent Jewish aggression—Jews were said to seek the destruction of Germany—justified Nazi attacks against the Jews. Michael Berkowitz
Michael Berkowitz is a UK-based American historian and professor of modern Jewish history at University College London.
Early life
Berkowitz was born in Rochester, New York. He earned a bachelor's degree from Hobart College in Geneva, New York, ...
writes that the idea of the Jewish Agency as the center of an anti-German conspiracy was "outrageous".
Postwar
Notable postwar writers employing the conspiracy theory include David Irving
David John Cawdell Irving (born 24 March 1938) is an English author and Holocaust denier who has written on the military and political history of World War II, with a focus on Nazi Germany. His works include ''The Destruction of Dresden'' (19 ...
, a Holocaust denier. German historian Ernst Nolte
Ernst Nolte (11 January 1923 – 18 August 2016) was a German historian and philosopher. Nolte's major interest was the comparative studies of fascism and communism (cf. Comparison of Nazism and Stalinism). Originally trained in philosophy, he was ...
stated that Weizmann's telegram justified interning Jews in German-occupied Europe as prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold priso ...
. Furthermore, Weizmann's letter would have plausibly convinced Hitler "of his enemies' determination to annihilate him much earlier than when the first information about Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
came to the knowledge of the world." Nolte's statements were contested by Jürgen Habermas
Jürgen Habermas (, ; ; born 18 June 1929) is a German social theorist in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. His work addresses communicative rationality and the public sphere.
Associated with the Frankfurt School, Habermas's wor ...
during the ''Historikerstreit
The ''Historikerstreit'' (, "historians' dispute") was a dispute in the late 1980s in West Germany between conservative and left-of-center academics and other intellectuals about how to incorporate Nazi Germany and the Holocaust into German hist ...
''. Deborah Lipstadt
Deborah Esther Lipstadt (born March 18, 1947) is an American historian, best known as author of the books ''Denying the Holocaust'' (1993), ''History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier'' (2005), ''The Eichmann Trial'' (2011), and ' ...
wrote that Nolte's argument "lacks any internal logic", since the Nazi persecution of Jews started before 1939, and Weizmann had no armed forces to carry out any "war" against Germany.[
]
See also
* Antisemitic canard
Antisemitic tropes, canards, or myths are " sensational reports, misrepresentations, or fabrications" that are defamatory towards Judaism as a religion or defamatory towards Jews as an ethnic or religious group. Since the Middle Ages, such repo ...
* Austria victim theory
The victim theory (german: Opferthese), encapsulated in the slogan "Austria – the Nazis' first victim", was the ideological basis for Austria under allied occupation (1945–1955) and in the Second Austrian Republic until the 1980s. According ...
* Genocide justification
Genocide justification is the claim that a genocide is morally excusable or necessary, in contrast to genocide denial, which rejects that genocide occurred. Perpetrators often claim that the genocide victims presented a serious threat, meaning th ...
* Holocaust inversion
Comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany have been made since the 1940s, taking place first within the larger context of the aftermath of World War II. Such comparisons are a rhetorical staple of anti-Zionism in relation to the Israeli–P ...
* Secondary antisemitism
Secondary antisemitism is a distinct form of antisemitism which is said to have appeared after the end of World War II. Secondary antisemitism is often explained as being caused by the Holocaust, as opposed to existing in spite of it. One frequent ...
* Stab-in-the-back myth
The stab-in-the-back myth (, , ) was an antisemitic conspiracy theory that was widely believed and promulgated in Germany after 1918. It maintained that the Imperial German Army did not lose World War I on the battlefield, but was instead ...
References
Notes
Further reading
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Conspiracy theories involving Jews
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