Somebody requested in a Holocaust denial forum on my blog article Seriously Now, Where Did The Jews "Evacuated to The East" Go? that "the issue of these transported Jews" shall be "addressed correctly and precisely" by deniers. Fair point! But also pretty naive - we are not calling that place "the cesspit" for nothing. Readily illustrated by the moderator "Hannover" with his nervous attempt of damage control. High spam factor, little relevance and zero impact on the issue at the hand.
The deniers Graf, Mattogno and Kues? Already addressed in the same blog posting.
Babi Yar? A well documented Nazi massacre.
Jews in labour camps west of Treblinka and "Jews evacuated to USSR during war"prior Nazi occupation? Does not deal with the fate of unfit Jews "evacuated to the East"during Nazi occupation.
"1,250,000 – 1,500,000 Polish Jews homeless in Europe" and an "Influx of 3,000,000 JEWS" after the war? That's from the same bag of denier's trick and ignores that a figure of 3 - 4 million Jews in Europe after the war is the order of magnitude expected after the decimation of 5-6 million anyway. It does not help to explain away the Jewish losses during the war. But let's have a closer look at this one.
How many Jews had there been at the eve of the mass extermination of Jews in continental Europe (i.e., always without Great-Britain)? Let's start with how many Jews the Nazis estimated had been in Europe. The result is compared with early estimations after the war as well a more recent monograph on Holocaust demographics.
First of all, we have the so-called Korherr report - long version of 23 March 1943, short version of 19 April 1943 (BArch NS 19/1570, scans, text in German/English). The "long" Korherr provides figures of the Jewish population in Europe that sum up to 10.05 million (without Switzerland, Spain, Norway and Denmark). From this, one has to subtract double-counted 1.2 million Jews in Soviet occupied Poland. On the other hand, one needs to add 217,748 Jews who had been evacuated from the Reich and about 19,000 excess mortality in the Altreich and Ostmark to back-calculate to the 1941 figure. Including about 30,000 Jews from countries omitted by Korherr, there had been about 9.12 million Jews in Europe.
Secondly, there is the so-called Wannsee protocol of 20 January 1942 by Adolf Eichmann. The figures on page six of the protocol sum up to about 10.9 million Jews. However, there is a mistake in the number for France. Instead of 700,000 for unoccupied France, it should read 170,000, which was provided by the Commissioner-General for Jewish Questions Xavier Vallat and reported in German News in December 1941 (see also Michman, Waren die Juden Nordafrikas im Visier der Planer der "Endlösung"?). The Wannsee protocol probably double-counted Galicia with 784,000 Jewish people (figure calculated from the next source). The figures for the baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania correspond to the situation in January 1942 - not to that in before Nazi occupation. According to the so-called 2nd Stahlecker report (PS-2273), about 205,000 Jews had been shot in the area. With these changes, the total number of Jews in continental Europe amounts to 9.78 millionJews.
Thirdly, we have an estimation of the Reichsvereinigung der Juden of 7 August 1941 provided to the RSHA (BArch R 58/7218, also BArch R 8150/25), which yields a sum of 9.3 million Jews in Europe. Note that some of the data in the compilations of the Reichsvereinigung der Juden was also reproduced or used as basis for calculations in the Wannsee protocol and the Korrherr report (Kempe & Klein, Die Wannsee-Konferenz am 20. Januar 1942; Christian Eckl, Richard Korherrs "Bericht über die Endlösung der europäischen Judenfrage").
As early as June 1945, the Institute of Jewish Affairs compiled an estimation of the number of Jews in pre-war Europe. Adding those countries that have not been included, one ends up with about 9.1 million people. In 1946, the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry determined that there had been about 9.6 million Jewsin Europe before the war.
In 1991, Benz et al. published with "Dimension des Völkermords" a multi-author study on the number of Jewish victims. The 1941 figures add up to 9.23 million Jews in Europe. Adding another about 40,000 in countries not considered in the study, it can be concluded that there had been almost 9.3 million Jews in continental Europe before the Holocaust (see Table 1).
The deniers Graf, Mattogno and Kues? Already addressed in the same blog posting.
Babi Yar? A well documented Nazi massacre.
Jews in labour camps west of Treblinka and "Jews evacuated to USSR during war"prior Nazi occupation? Does not deal with the fate of unfit Jews "evacuated to the East"during Nazi occupation.
"1,250,000 – 1,500,000 Polish Jews homeless in Europe" and an "Influx of 3,000,000 JEWS" after the war? That's from the same bag of denier's trick and ignores that a figure of 3 - 4 million Jews in Europe after the war is the order of magnitude expected after the decimation of 5-6 million anyway. It does not help to explain away the Jewish losses during the war. But let's have a closer look at this one.
How many Jews had there been at the eve of the mass extermination of Jews in continental Europe (i.e., always without Great-Britain)? Let's start with how many Jews the Nazis estimated had been in Europe. The result is compared with early estimations after the war as well a more recent monograph on Holocaust demographics.
First of all, we have the so-called Korherr report - long version of 23 March 1943, short version of 19 April 1943 (BArch NS 19/1570, scans, text in German/English). The "long" Korherr provides figures of the Jewish population in Europe that sum up to 10.05 million (without Switzerland, Spain, Norway and Denmark). From this, one has to subtract double-counted 1.2 million Jews in Soviet occupied Poland. On the other hand, one needs to add 217,748 Jews who had been evacuated from the Reich and about 19,000 excess mortality in the Altreich and Ostmark to back-calculate to the 1941 figure. Including about 30,000 Jews from countries omitted by Korherr, there had been about 9.12 million Jews in Europe.
Secondly, there is the so-called Wannsee protocol of 20 January 1942 by Adolf Eichmann. The figures on page six of the protocol sum up to about 10.9 million Jews. However, there is a mistake in the number for France. Instead of 700,000 for unoccupied France, it should read 170,000, which was provided by the Commissioner-General for Jewish Questions Xavier Vallat and reported in German News in December 1941 (see also Michman, Waren die Juden Nordafrikas im Visier der Planer der "Endlösung"?). The Wannsee protocol probably double-counted Galicia with 784,000 Jewish people (figure calculated from the next source). The figures for the baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania correspond to the situation in January 1942 - not to that in before Nazi occupation. According to the so-called 2nd Stahlecker report (PS-2273), about 205,000 Jews had been shot in the area. With these changes, the total number of Jews in continental Europe amounts to 9.78 millionJews.
Thirdly, we have an estimation of the Reichsvereinigung der Juden of 7 August 1941 provided to the RSHA (BArch R 58/7218, also BArch R 8150/25), which yields a sum of 9.3 million Jews in Europe. Note that some of the data in the compilations of the Reichsvereinigung der Juden was also reproduced or used as basis for calculations in the Wannsee protocol and the Korrherr report (Kempe & Klein, Die Wannsee-Konferenz am 20. Januar 1942; Christian Eckl, Richard Korherrs "Bericht über die Endlösung der europäischen Judenfrage").
As early as June 1945, the Institute of Jewish Affairs compiled an estimation of the number of Jews in pre-war Europe. Adding those countries that have not been included, one ends up with about 9.1 million people. In 1946, the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry determined that there had been about 9.6 million Jewsin Europe before the war.
In 1991, Benz et al. published with "Dimension des Völkermords" a multi-author study on the number of Jewish victims. The 1941 figures add up to 9.23 million Jews in Europe. Adding another about 40,000 in countries not considered in the study, it can be concluded that there had been almost 9.3 million Jews in continental Europe before the Holocaust (see Table 1).
How was the situation after the war?
At first, a look again on what contemporaries had determined early on: Philip Bernstein, adviser on Jewish Affairs to Commander of US Forces in Europe, estimated the number of the Jews in post-war Europe on 20 June 1947 in the United States House of Representatives' Committee on the Judiciary. He stated that "apart from the 2 1/4 million Jews in the Soviet Union who are pretty much cut off from the general Jewish population, there are about a million and a quarter Jews surviving in Europe", therefore estimating that in total 3.5 million Jews were left in Europe. The Institute of Jewish Affair obtained a figure of 3.4 million Jewish people in Europe after the war (incl. those countries missing in the data). The Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry published a figure of about 3.88 million Jews left in continental Europe.
With the figures provided in the multi-author study by Benz et al., one obtains 3.66 millionJews in post-war Europe (3.72 million with those countries not considered in the study) (see Table 2).
With the figures provided in the multi-author study by Benz et al., one obtains 3.66 millionJews in post-war Europe (3.72 million with those countries not considered in the study) (see Table 2).
Now it's easy to do the math: with about 9.27 million and 3.72 million Jews before the Holocaust and after the war respectively in continental Europe and Russia, the Jewish losses amount to about 5.55 million people.
This figure describes all Jewish losses captured by the demographic data, including war losses and excess natural mortality. For the Soviet Union, it is estimated that as much as 280,000 Jewish deaths resulted from the war and excess mortality (Mark Kupovetsky in: Kokh, Denial of Denial, 2012 p. 166). Thus, the death toll from anti-Jewish policy amounts to about 5.3 million people according to this approach.
In his classic work The Destruction of the Europea Jews (1961), Raul Hilberg published the result of 5.1 million Jewish victims. Dieter Pohl arrived at a Jewish death toll in the range of 5.3 to 5.9 million (in: Kokh, Denial of Denial, 2012 p. 143, Pohl's article was originally published in German in 2005). HC blog's Nick Terry computed a figure of 5.36 million here but informs that he would nowadays further refine this result with more recent literature (see Table 3).
How significant are these Jewish losses in front of the fact that a bloody war was going on in Europe?
Let's put these figures into perspective. About 2 million Soviet Jews did not come under German occupation (Benz, Dimension des Völkermords, p. 509). Thus, more than 70% of the Jews in the range of the Nazis or its Allies died between 1941 to 1945. For comparison, about 6% of the ethnic Poles died during German occupation (Political Migrations on Polish Territories (1939–1950), p. 179). This huge difference in the mortality of one order of magnitude corresponds to the effect of the extreme hatred towards a minority, destroying their livelihood and the systematic mass killing of the Jewish people in Europe.
Table 1: Pre-Holocaust Jewish population in Europe
| Region | Reichs- vereinigung Juden [R1] | Wannsee Protocol [W1] | Korherr Report [K1] | Benz Pre-Holocaust [B1] | IJA Pre-Holocaust [I1] | Anglo-American Pre-Holocaust [A1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finland | 1,800 | 2,300 | 2,000 | N/A | N/A | 2,000 |
| Norway | 1,500 | 1,300 | N/A | 1,800 | 1,800 | 2,000 |
| Denmark | 7,000 | 5,600 | N/A | 6,000 | 6,000 | 7,000 |
| Netherlands | 135,000 | 160,800 | 135,000 | 140,000 | 95,000 | 150,000 |
| Belgium | 80,000 | 34,000 | 80,000 | 52,000 | 55,000 | 90,000 |
| Luxemburg | 900 | N/A | N/A | 1,700 | 1,750 | 3,500 |
| France | 280,000 | 335,000[W2] | 280,000 | 310,000 | 230,000 | 320,000 |
| Italy | 52,000 | 58,000 | 52,000 | 46,656 | 45,000 | 50,000 |
| Yugoslavia | 75,000 | 80,000 | 71,000 | 75,000 | ||
| Croatia | 29,000 | 40,000 | ||||
| Serbia | 39,000 | 10,000 | ||||
| Greece | 90,000 | 69,600 | 90,000 | 70,000 | 72,000 | 75,000 |
| Bulgaria | 50,000 | 48,000 | 50,000 | 51,000 | 48,000 | 50,000 |
| Romania | 275,000 | 342,000 | 302,000 | 315,293 | 840,000 | 850,000 |
| Hungary | 750,000 | 742,800 | 750,000 | 759,442 | 390,000 | 400,000 |
| Slovakia | 89,000 | 88,000 | 89,000 | 88,951 | 319,000 | 315,000 |
| Protektorat | 75,000 | 74,200 | 85,227[K2] | 92,199 | ||
| Austria | 52,549 | 43,700 | 61,657[K3] | 74,619 | 88,000 | 60,000 |
| Germany | 167,245 | 131,800 | 165,159 [K4] | 168,972 | 228,000 | 215,000 |
| Poland | 3,200,000 | 3,446,000 | 3,280,000 | 3,351,000 | ||
| Ostgebiete | 420,000 | |||||
| Ost-OS | 115,000 | |||||
| Warthegau | 360,000 | |||||
| GG | 1,500,000 | 2,284,000 | ||||
| Poland (Sov.) | 1,200,000 | -1,200,000 | ||||
| Bialystok | 400,000 | |||||
| Soviet Union | 3,520,000[R2] | 4,600,000 | 3,277,120 [B3] | 3,050,000 | 3,560,000 | |
| RSFSR | 1,558,832 | |||||
| Ukraine | 2,210,684 [W3] | |||||
| Weissruth. | 446,484 | |||||
| Estonia | 4,500 | 2,000 [W4] | N/A | 4,000 | 5,000 | |
| Latvia | 96,000 | 70,000 [W5] | 96,000 | 94,000 | 95,000 | |
| Lithuania | 300,000 | 170,421 [W6] | 175,000 | 150,000 | 150,000 | |
| Portugal | 2,500 | 3,000 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 3,600 |
| Spain | 4,500 | 6,000 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 4,500 |
| Sweden | 8,000 | 8,000 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 7,600 |
| Switzerland | 18,000 | 18,000 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 26,000 |
| Total | 9,303,494 | 9,784,521 | 9,088,043 | 9,229,752 | 9,070,550 | 9,617,200 |
[R1]: BArch R 58/7218, also BArch R 8150/25; figures for 1939 - 1941.
[R2]: incl. Bessarabia & Bukovina (500,000; exaggerated by 200k)
[K1]: BArch NS 19/1570, scans, text in German/English; figures for 1937 - 1941.
[K2]: 15,550 (31.12.1942) + 69,677 (evacuated) (not taking into account excess mortality 1941-1942)
[K3]: 8,102 (31.12.1942) + 47,555 (evacuated) + estimated 6,000 excess mortality 1941-1942
[K4]: 51,327 (31.12.1942) + 100,516 (evacuated) + 13,316 excess mortality 1941-1942
[W1]: Wannsee protocol; figures for 1941.
[W2]: 165,000 (occupied) + 170,000 (unoccupied, not 700,000)
[W3]: 2,994,684 - 784,000 (Galicia); note that the figure for Bessarabia & Bukovina has been likely exaggerated by 200k, see [R2]
[W4]: according to 2nd Stahlecker report (replacing zero as of January 1942)
[W5]: according to 2nd Stahlecker report (replacing 3,500 as of January 1942)
[W6]: according to 2nd Stahlecker report (replacing 34,000 as of January 1942)
[B1]: Benz, Dimension des Völkermords, 1991; figures for 1941
[B2]: added 257,949 for Bessarabia & Bukovina
[I1]: Report"Statistics on Jewish Casualties During Axis Domination", Institute of Jewish Affairs, World Jewish Congress, June 1945.
[A1]: Report of Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry on Palestine (1946), Appendix III.
Table 2: Post-war Jewish population in Europe
| Region | Benz Post-war | IJA Post-war | Anglo-American Post-war |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finland | N/A | N/A | 1,800 |
| Norway | 1,042 | 800 [I2] | 1,000 [A2] |
| Denmark | 6,000 | 5,000 | 5,500 |
| Netherlands | 38,000 | 30,000 [I3] | 30,000 [A3] |
| Belgium | 23,482 | 25,000 [I4] | 33,000 [A4] |
| Luxemburg | 500 | 400 [I5] | 500 |
| France | 233,866 | 150,000 [I6] | 180,000 [A5] |
| Italy | 40,143 | 33,000 [I7] | 46,000 [A6] |
| Yugoslavia | 15,800 | 10,500 [I8] | 11,000 |
| Greece | 10,811 | 12,500 [I9] | 10,000 |
| Bulgaria | 49,172 [B3] | 40,000 | 46,000 |
| Romania | 297,972[B4] | 425,000 [I10] | 335,000 [A7] |
| Hungary | 293,000 | 280,000 [I11] | 200,000 |
| Slovakia | 21,000 | 30,000 [I12] | 66,600 [A8] |
| Protektorat | 14,000 | ||
| Austria | 14,000 | 2,000 [I13] | 15,000 [A9] |
| Germany | 28,677 | 8,000 [I14] | 94,000 [A10] |
| Poland | 300,000 | 480,000 [I15] | 80,000 |
| Soviet Union | 2,268,000 | 1,800,000 [I16] | 2,665,000 [A11] |
| Estonia | 2,200 [I17] | ||
| Latvia | 5,500 [I18] | ||
| Lithuania | 7,000 [I19] | ||
| Portugal | N/A | N/A | 4,200 [A12] |
| Spain | N/A | N/A | 4,600 [A13] |
| Sweden | N/A | N/A | 19,600 [A14] |
| Switzerland | N/A | N/A | 28,500 [A15] |
| Total | 3,655,465 | 3,346,900 | 3,877,300 |
[B3]: Shapiro, Recent Population Data regarding the Jews in Europe, Jewish Social Studies, Vol. 8, No. 4, 1946), p. 319-321
[B4]: 355,972 in 1945 minus 58,000 from Nordsiebenbürgen/Northern Transylvania (Benz, p. 407 & Maniula, Regional development of the Jewish population in Romania; see also Kokh, Denial of Denial, p. 140 for a lower figure of survivors from Northern Transylvania)
[I2]: unkown number of DPs
[I3]: incl. 10,000 DPs
[I4]: incl. 5,000 DPs
[I5]: unkown number of DPs
[I6]: unkown number of DPs
[I7]: incl. 3,000 DPs
[I8]: incl. 3,500 DPs
[I9]: incl. 2,500 DPs
[I10]: incl. 75,500 DPs (thereof 55,000 from Bessarabia and Bukovina in SU)
[I11]: incl.80,000 DPs
[I12]: incl.10,000 DPs
[I13]: unkown number of DPs
[I14]: unkown number of DPs
[I15]: incl. 375,000 DPs
[I16]: "There are no reliable figures on the exact number of surviving or murdered Jews."
[I17]: incl. 2,000 DPs
[I18]: incl. 5,000 DPs
[I19]: incl. 5,000 DPs
[A2]: incl. 250 Jewish refugees/DP
[A3]: incl. 6,000 Jewish refugees/DP ("over 80% German & Austrian")
[A4]: incl. 8,000 Jewish refugees/DP ("mainly German, Austrian & Polish")
[A5]: incl. 30,000 Jewish refugees/DP ("mainly German, Austrian & Polish")
[A6]: incl. 16,000 Jewish refugees/DP ("75% Polish; 7% Rumanian; 5% Czech; 5% Hungarian")
[A7]: incl. 15,000 Jewish refugees/DP ("mainly Polish")
[A8]: incl. 6,600 Jewish refugees/DP ("mainly Polish; some Hungarian")
[A9]: incl. 8,000 Jewish refugees/DP ("73% Polish; 11% Hungarian; 6% Czech and 6% Rumanian")
[A10]: incl. 74,000 Jewish refugees/DP ("85% Polish; 5% Hungarian; 4% Lithuanian, 3% Rumanian")
[A11]: incl. 165,000 Jewish refugees/DP ("150,000 Polish; 15,000 Hungarian")
[A12]: incl. 600 Jewish refugees/DP
[A13]: incl. 600 Jewish refugees/DP
[A14]: incl. 12,000 Jewish refugees/DP ("mainly Polish, German & Austrian")
[A15]: incl. 10,500 Jewish refugees/DP ("mainly Polish, German & Austrian")
Table 3: Summary of selected figures on Jewish losses.
| Region | This posting [1] | D. Pohl [P1] | N. Terry [T1] | R. Hilberg [H1] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norway | 758 | 758 | 758 | 1,000 | |
| Denmark | 116 | 116 | 116 | ||
| Netherlands | 102,000 | 102,000 | 100,000 | 100,000 | |
| Belgium | 28,518 | 25,000 | 23,484 | 24,000 | |
| Luxemburg | 1,200 | 1,200 | 720 | 1,000 | |
| France | 76,134 | 75,000 | 76,134 | 75,000 | |
| Italy | 6,513 | 7,000 | 6,513 | 9,000 [H2] | |
| Yugoslavia | 64,200 | 65,000 | 65,000 | 60,000 | |
| Greece | 59,189 | 59,000 | 59,185 | 60,000 | |
| Bulgaria | 1,223 [2] | N/A | N/A | ||
| Romania | 17,321 [3] | 175,000 | 120,919 | 270,000 | |
| Hungary | 466,442 [4] | 475,000 | 410,000+ | 180,000 | |
| Slovakia | 67,951 [5] | 90,000 | 66,000 | 260,000 [H3] | |
| Protektorat | 78,199 | 78,000 | 77,297 | ||
| Austria | 60,619 [6] | 65,000 | 48,767 | 50,000 | |
| Germany | 140,295 [7] | 165,000 | 150,000 | 121,000 | |
| Poland | 3,146,000 [8] | 3,000,000 | 2,890,000 | 3,000,000 | |
| Soviet Union | 1,257,120 [9] | 1,000,000 | 1,050,000 | 700,000 | |
| Estonia | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 | ||
| Latvia | 69,000 | 77,000 | 70,000 | ||
| Lithuania | 145,000 | 140,000 | 130,000 | ||
| Total |
| 5,598,074 | 5,362,893+ | 5,112,000 |
[1]: demographic balance for eastern and central European countries and Soviet Union from Table 1 (last two columns), difference to Benz's own death toll indicated in references.
[2]: according to Central Jewish Consistory (instead of 11,393)
[3]: according to 1941 census and data on survivors (instead of 211,214)
[4]: according to 1941 census and data on survivors (instead of 550,000)
[5]: according to 1940 census and data on survivors (instead of 65,703)
[6]: according to 1939 census and data on survivors (instead of 65,459)
[7]: according to May 1941 report of Reichsvereinigung der Juden and data on survivors (instead of 165,000)
[8]: according to 1931 census, extrapolated to 1939, and 300,000 survivors (instead of 2,700,000 - 3,000,000)
[9]: according to 1939 and 1959 census, extrapolated to 1945 (instead of 2,100,000)
[P1]: in: Kokh, Denial of Denial (2012), p. 143; death toll broken down to local administrative areas for eastern European countries and Soviet Union, updating figures in Benz.
[N1]: Number of Victims of the Holocaust - Reference Thread(2006); removing double counting in Benz and updating Eastern Europe figures. According to information from N. Terry, the Soviet Union figure needs to be further refined based on more recent literature.
[H1]: Hilberg, Die Vernichtung der euopäischen Juden, p. 1300; in the borders of 1937.
[H2]: incl. Rhodos
[H3]: Czechoslovakia