Answers to Questions by Yair Davidiy
Why did the Allies hate the Nazis so much, when they themselves were very antisemitic at that point in time?
Quora Question:
Why did the Allies hate the Nazis so much, when they themselves were very antisemitic at that point in time?
When I watch movies or read books of that era, I see the resentment of Allies troops. They disparagingly use to call Nazis 'Jew Haters'. They hated Hitler because he was a 'Jew Hater'. Isn't it hypocritical of them, since they themselves hate Jews, or hated Jews at that point of time?
Answer by Yair:
There is a difference between disliking Jews and dishonor.
This is an aspect of Western Civilization that has been overlooked.
It has been claimed that before WW2 France was almost as anti-Semitic as Germany.
After being conquered there were Frenchmen who co-operated with the Nazis and turned Jews over to them.
Nevertheless compared to other places France was not as bad as elsewhere.
75% of the Jewish population in France survived the Holocaust.
Even French anti-Semites in some cases worked to save Jews.
A Jew from Sweden somewhat acquainted with the issue explained to me that the French attitude was something like:
"He may be a Jew, but he is MY Jew. I will deal with him. If someone else touches MY Jew it is MY honor that is impugned."
i.e. I may not like the Jew but he embodies something about me that should not be dishonored.
Certain things are just not done.
King Edward-1 expelled the Jews from England in 1290.
During the expulsion:
# A captain taking a ship full of Jews to the Thames, en route to France, while the tide was low, and convincing them to go out for a walk with him.
He then lost them and made it back to his ship quickly before the tide came back in, leaving them all to drown. #
The sailors then divided the possessions of the Jews among themselves.
# Subsequently the master and his accomplices were indicted, convicted of murder and hung. #
[Walter of Hemingburgh, quoted in "The Expulsion of the Jews from England in 1290 (Concluded)", by Lionel Abrahams, JQR, vol 7, no.2, 1895, p. 446].
In WW2, the Allies were at war with Germany because Germany had attacked other countries.
German behavior towards the Jews demonstrated that Germany lacked honor. This compounded the German offense.
By analogy, I may see a person cruelly and unjustly beat his wife and children. I am or may not intervene.
If I do nothing but the said person then forces me to defend myself or my family then I will probably react accordingly.
What I do and my own resolution to do it may well then be influenced by what I have seen him do to those under his charge.
The British remained unconquered and the only determined unbeaten opponent of the Germans, from the beginning of the War until its end, was Great Britain and Her Dominions. At one stage Britain (and her "daughter" Dominions) stood alone against the victorious conquering Germans. The British could have made a separate peace on favorable terms with Germany. Even so, if the British Government had wanted to (and it did not) the British people would not accept anything less than continued struggle for complete victory. The anti-Jewish policies of the Nazis even from before the beginning of the War was the major single factor in turning British public opinion against Germany (1).
The USA actively supported Britain on the material level turning itself into one vast hinterland-producing area for the British effort. Later, the USA and Russia, after being attacked, joined Britain against Germany.
The USA had, in a de facto sense, backed Britain almost from the beginning because the British were doing what needed to be done.
(1) A.J.P. Taylor, "English History 1914-1945", Oxford 1965, p. 420 quoted by B. Wasserstein, "Britain and the Jews of Europe 1939-1945" ch.1, n.7. Taylor is one of the few British historians who was once somewhat sympathetic or "objective" towards Germany. In this case, concerning British public opinion, he is unlikely to have been mistaken.
