Answers to Questions by Yair Davidiy
Given that German-occupied Bulgaria and Denmark saved their Jews, why didn't the Germans stand up against Hitler?
The number of Germans executed for resisting the Nazis in Germany was greater than the number of Frenchmen in France killed for being members of the Resistance.
There was therefore some opposition.
There were Germans who died attempting to oppose the Nazis.
We should not forget this.
Bulgaria was never occupied by the Germans but rather allied to her.
The Bulgarians were in the game to serve themselves. Ideas about exterminating other races was not what appealed to most of them.
Bulgaria however did turn 13000 Jews over to the Germans.
[The British may have been able to prevent this. It is perhaps the only case where such claims can convincingly be made against the British.]
The Jews given to the Nazis were from non-Bulgarian lands (Thrace and Macedonia) that Bulgaria had gotten control of.
Bulgaria refused to deliver up those Jews (between 44,000 to 48,000) who were within Bulgaria itself.
Denmark saved its Jews due to its communal cohesion, firm decision to act appropriately, de facto collusion of German officials, and getting the Jews out to Sweden.
The transference to Sweden by ship took about an hour. The whole process was over in most cases within a day or two. For others it took a few weeks, but it was done.
It did not require an ongoing effort.
The Germans did not need to save the Jews from Hitler.
The Germans needed to save the Jews from other Germans.
Hitler gave expression to a darker facet of the national soul.
Once the leash is released the mad wolf cannot be held back.
He was not alone.
Neither did he originate anything.
For sources discussing this, see:
"Hilter's Willing executioners," by Daniel Jona Goldhagen, 1996.
"The History of an Obsession," by Klaus P. Fischer, 1998.
