Hello, I'm Dan Michman, I'm head of the International Institute for Holocaust Research at the Yad Vashem. I'm also Professor of Modern Jewish History and the Chair of the Finkler Institute of Holocaust Research at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. This is the second lesson of this course and we are going to have a look on the period between 1939 and 1941. That is a transitional period between the times that Nazi Germany dealt with Germany proper and with German-speaking areas that were annexed in March 1938, the Anschluss, the annexation of Austria and later on, and at the end of the summer, the annexation of the area of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia. Germany starts its expansion all over Europe during this period and is a very important period therefore the horizon of what is this going to do both internationally and regarding to choose is changing. The end of the period that we are going to look at in this lesson is 1941, with the invasion of the Soviet Union. The nickname of this campaign by Nazis was Operation Barbarossa. This part of the lesson, we'll first deal with the international picture or the European picture of what happened to political developments and not so much with the Jews, but these are important issues which have its repercussions for the anti-Jewish policies which we'll deal later on. So 1939, we could start of course on the 1st of September, 1939 was the beginning of World War II, but I would like to start a little bit earlier in March, 1939 because at that moment Germany actually destroys the Czechoslovakian state. It annexes in a way, turns into a protectorate Bohemia Monrovia. The Czech part of Czechoslovakia, and the Slovak part of this country is turned into an independent but actually a satellite state which is totally dependent on Germany but it is still an independent state. So that is a first expansion beyond those areas, German-speaking areas as we mentioned before. Then on the 23rd of August, 1939 Germany makes a deal with the Soviet Union. They were actually very much opposed to each other ideologically but at that moment, Hitler decided to have the eastern front, possible front on the safe side and therefore, he cut a deal with the Soviet Union. Stalin had his own thoughts and drives why to do it, and on the 23rd of August, 1939 these two totalitarian states therefore made a deal which then allowed for both of them to conquer Poland a week later on. On the 1st of September, Germany invades Poland and three weeks later, Soviet Union invades the eastern part of Poland, and so that is the second stage of expansion beyond the German-speaking borders before. Now, this row of expansions continues in 1940. In April 1940, Germany conquers Denmark and Norway. A month later in May, 1940 Germany invades the Western European countries, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France. Later on in 1941, also the southern countries of Europe. Actually Yugoslavia are invaded by Germany and Germany cuts this former country into parts, into an independent Croatian state, into Serbia, and it changes entirely the political map of Europe at the time. Now, we have to remember that on the 30th of January, 1939, on the sixth anniversary of Hitler transcendence to power, he made a very important speech which was recorded and can be listened to and viewed about the state of affairs, and this was a very long speech. But the last part of the speech was devoted to the attitude towards the Jews, the policies, the future policies towards the Jews. A central sentence in this part of his speech says the following. I'm quoting it in a general way but you should read the document itself and listen to this speech and view also the recording. When he says that "If international Jewish financiers will plunge the world again into World War, the end will not be the Bolshevization of Earth, but the extermination of the Jews in Europe." Now, the extermination in German, the term is Vernichtung, is explosive word. We don't know at the moment and nobody knew at that moment what Hitler had in mind, but this is a forecast which will be very important in the future. Hitler himself will quote this sentence again and again, and even later on in September, 1941 when the final solution will start, this will be a weekly slogan of the National Socialist Party. Now, what happens is not only that the political map of Europe changes by the fact that Germany occupied many countries but they changed these countries also to a large extent. So what we have is a partly annexation of several countries. Other countries will be under protectorate, will have a military commander or will have a civil supervisor or commander, commissar, as it will be called. So we have different types of administration that emerged in this period. Now, we have to see for instance that at the beginning of what we call World War II, there was not a real war between the invasion of Poland which happened in September, 1939 and May-June, 1940. There are no actual battles between the Germans and the Western powers, Britain and France. The administration systems in the different countries all over Europe are not the same, and that will be very important also for anti-Jewish policies at that time, and later on it will have repercussions because part as already mentioned some countries or parts of countries will be annexed. Where the western parts of Poland will be annexed, Luxembourg will be annexed, eastern parts of Belgium will be annexed to Germany, will be part of Germany, Alsace in France will be annexed. On the other hand, some countries will totally be cut into pieces like Poland, like Yugoslavia, and then there will be satellite countries. A country like Holland will have a civil administration because the Nazis wanted to integrate the Netherlands into the greater German state and saw the Dutch as a German tribe. Belgium will have a military commander and France will have a joint, I would say, administration both German and French. The northern part will be administered by the Germans who will be actually really occupied, and the southern part, Vichy will be independent, and that has also repercussions for who is in charge of those countries. In the Netherlands for instance, there will be a [inaudible] commissar, in Poland there will be a general governor, in the central part of Poland. In France in charge will be the German ambassador to France. So we'll have different systems and different ways of administration and the strength of the German administration into different countries will therefore differ and that will have an impact on the way anti-Jewish policies will develop further on.
