A “Jewish Mutiny”?
“The German salute is your duty”
Three Ship Stories
“… hurts our very innermost”
From Singapore “under British protection”
Arandora Star
Part 3
The “J”-Stamp
“Aktionsjuden”
“Dumped” in Bombay
“Sympathy and human kindness”
An appeal made by internees
“99,1 per cent british”
The „Fall Grün“
The “Polenaktion”
“Two Years in Nazi concentration camps”
British deportations
Part 1
British deportations
Part 2
British deportations
Part 3
Arandora Star
Part 1
Arandora Star
Part 2
Switzerland can sleep soundly. The red “J” stamp in the passports of German and Austrian Jews was not invented there. Neither in Sweden. Nevertheless, both states, which always claimed “neutrality” during the Second World War, have anti-Semitic and xenophobic dirt on them. Even if the red stamp did not grow out of the racist muck there, it was rooted in an agreement between Switzerland and the Nazis in 1938, according to which the passports of German and Austrian Jews were to be specially marked. Switzerland and other countries were able to recognize these refugees at the border and turn them away. In this way, the threat to Swiss and Swedish “purity” was transformed into a threat to the lives of Jews by the Nazis. Sweden not only went along with the Nazis when it came to the Jewish stamp.
Peter Dehn January 2025.
The “J” stamp – no story of “neutrality”
“The boat is full“ became the official asylum doctrine of the Swiss[1] The title of the non-fiction book by Alfred A. Häsler (1967) and the movie of the same name written and directed by Markus Imhoof (Silver Bear and other prizes at the 1981 Berlinale) became synonymous with the refusal to help asylum seekers, retrieved on 13.11.2024. – all the more so because of the waves of refugees after the ‘Anschluss’ of Austria and the November pogroms. The entry of political refugees was expressly tolerated. However, a government instruction[2] Helmut Hubacher, Submission to the National Council on “J-Stamp” of February 1, 1995 in Bulletin of the Swiss National Council No. 95.3039, retrieved on Nov 13, 2024. to the cantons stated just as explicitly that “Jews were not to be regarded as political refugees”. The policy of only accepting Jews in exceptional cases consigned many persecuted people to the anti-Semitic policies of the Nazis and their “Endlösung” (final solution).
Background and political framework
In July 1938, an international agreement on how to deal with refugees failed at the Evian Conference[3] Wikipedia about the Evian Conference, retrieved on 10.11.2024.. 31 of the 32 participating states had refused to accept more or any persecuted persons from Germany and Austria. As a result of this failure, countless Jews became victims of the Holocaust.
Switzerland had taken in 10,000 to 12,000 refugees[4] One of them was the car developer Josef Ganz, who was expelled in 1951. by then, the magazine Der Schweizerische Beobachter[5] “Der schweizerische Beobachter”, founded in 1927, campaigns for law and justice. The paper first took a critical look at the country's asylum policy during the Nazi era in 1954.“Der schweizerische Beobachter”, founded in 1927, campaigns for law and justice. The paper first took a critical look at the country's asylum policy during the Nazi era in 1954. quotes official documents. “Many in our country feared foreign infiltration[6] Urs Rauber reassesses the 1954 report in "Judenstempel: Korrektur einer Halbwahrheit" (Correction of a half-truth), published on 19.3.2001 in the “Beobachter”, especially regarding the responsibility of the former head of the immigration police Rothmund and the “invention” of the red “J” stamp, retrieved on 10.11.2024. and a strain on the labor market,” says its author Urs Rauber, describing the government’s reasoning at the time to keep unwanted people out. This did not only apply to German Jews. The door was also slammed shut on Austrian Jews when they tried to save their lives from anti-Semitic persecution in or via Switzerland after the “Anschluss” of their homeland on March 12 and 13, 1938.
Felix Nussbaum: “Self-portrait with the Jewish passport”, around 1940. Source: Wikipedia.
An interpretation[7] Claire Deuticke “Felix Nussbaum - Self-Portrait with Jewish Passport” online on The Art Inspector, retrieved on 25.11.2024. of the painting: “In his left hand he is holding his Jewish passport, on which the word Juif – Jood (Jew) is clearly visible in thick red letters. It is the gesture of identifying oneself, a situation to which Jews were exposed on a daily basis under the National Socialist regime, a situation that could decide between life and death. Felix Nussbaum fixes the viewer with an insistent, almost provocative gaze. The viewer automatically assumes the role of the counterpart, the controller, and thus becomes part of the situation depicted. He is deliberately placed in the position of power of an informer who has the responsibility of life and death and is faced with a decision. In this way, Felix Nussbaum consciously evades the role of victim: it is not he who is cornered and accused, but the viewer who, in his role as controller, is jointly responsible for the suffering of the Jews.”
Switzerland as an “accommodating” negotiator
In order to protect itself from the expected wave of refugees, Switzerland announced a visa requirement for all Germans and Austrians. Exceptions were only to apply for people with assets or relatives in Switzerland and for transit travelers. This put Switzerland in opposition to its powerful neighbor. Nazi Germany wanted to get rid of “its” Jews, no matter where, no matter how. The Nazis could not accept restrictions on the freedom of movement of their own “Aryan” majority. In the course of negotiations, the Swiss declared that they wanted to restrict the visa requirement “to non-Aryan German citizens”. This “concession[8] „Beobachter“ loc.cit.” became the starting point for the subsequent agreement.
Meanwhile, the German negotiator asked whether Switzerland would waive visas if Germany explicitly designated the Jewish passport holders as such. The head of the Swiss immigration police Heinrich Rothmund[9] Wikipedia about Heinrich Rothmund, retrieved on 15.10.2024. found this “technically possible” but politically questionable and continued to vote in favor of the general visa requirement. On September 7, 1938, the Nazi representative proposed a stamp in the passport. In the interests of reciprocity, however, passports of Swiss Jews would also have to be stamped. This was “very accommodating” and “acceptable”, reported the head of the Swiss delegation to his government.
According to the treaty, Switzerland only allowed German Jews to enter the country[10] Cf. documents collection VEJ 2/127 and German Federal Archives and Caspar Battegay, Naomi Lubrich “Jüdische Schweiz: 50 Objekte erzählen Geschichte”, pages 158-161. Ed.: Jewish Museum of Switzerland, Basel 2018, ISBN 978-3-85616-847-6. Cited from Wikipedia on the "J" stamp (German), retrieved on 13.11.2024. “if the competent Swiss representation has entered an ‘assurance of authorization to stay in Switzerland or to transit through Switzerland’ in the passport.” Both Swiss chambers of parliament[11] Marco Jorio “Judenstempel”. Published online on 10.3.2015 in Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (HLS), retrieved on 5.8.2024. approved the agreement – against Rothmund’s objections – which became the basis for the red “J” stamp. This happened on October 3 and 4, 1938, just a few days after Jews and Nazi opponents from Czechoslovakia, which had been destroyed by the Munich Agreement, were also made refugees.
“It may not be too long before this mark is branded on their bodies. There is already talk of marking the victims of Nazi racial madness with at least a yellow stain on their faces and thus exposing them to contempt.”
The Swiss Social Democrat Guido Müller[12] GRA - Foundation against Racism and Antisemitism, Glossary "J" stamp, retrieved on 13.11.2024. thus foresaw the Jewish stars that would later be introduced and warned against the “Judenstempel” Agreement. His public statement in the Swiss parliament on December 7, 1938 also proves that the claim that the Agreement was negotiated in secret has no basis.
With the blessing of Switzerland, the Nazis introduced the “J” stamp on identity documents. Here, from left to right, the passports of Dunera boy Ladislaus Wieselmann from Vienna, and Queen Mary internees Karl Duldig (Vienna), Helmut Neustädter (Berlin) and Heinrich Portnoj (Vienna). There were also stamps for children’s identity cards. Source: Files of the Australian National Archives NAA.
The labelling of the passports of Swiss Jews, which had been agreed with the Nazi Reich and whose discrimination was deliberately accepted by their own government, was not implemented. However, the other direction was consistently implemented. For example, the Berlin pastor Helmut Gollwitzer[13] Wikipedia about Helmut Gollwitzer (German), retrieved on 15.11.2024. (1908 – 1993), a member of the Bekennende Kirche[14] Wikipedia about the Bekennende Kirche, retrieved on 10.10.2024. (Confessing Church), wrote to the Swiss diplomat Hamel asking for help with the entry of an endangered family. He replied that Switzerland had “generally closed its borders rigorously as a result of great alienation”. Of course, this had nothing to do with the ancestry of the Jewish family supported by Gollwitzer. However, it included “that no exceptions can be made because it is a law”. Hamel recommended[15] Hamel to Gollwitzer on 26.11.1938 (German), via Peace Center of the Martin Niemöller House, retrieved on 15.11.2024. seeking entry into another country.
Just “because it’s the law”, Switzerland turned away at least 30,000 German-Austrian Jews[16] Cf. M.M. Mäder “Die Juden in der Schweiz” (Jews in Switzerland) from 9.9.1997 under Jewish Live online, retrieved on 12.12.2024. at the border between 1941 and 1945 alone.
A Swiss debate
In Switzerland, the “J” stamp does not appear to have been a historical accident. Markings for Jews could already be found on forms for residence permits and naturalization applications in 1916.
The critical debate on the “J” stamp initiated by the “Beobachter” in 1954 led to false results due to insufficient research and to an unjustified public condemnation of Rothmund as the alleged inventor of the stamp. This was publicly corrected decades later by the “Beobachter” itself. The starting point was the report “Die Flüchtlingspolitik der Schweiz in den Jahren 1933 bis 1955” by Prof. Dr. Carl Ludwig[17] Der komplette Bericht „Die Flüchtlingspolitik der Schweiz in den Jahren 1933 bis 1955“ in der Datenbank Dodis für Diplomatische Dokumente der Schweiz (German), abgerufen am 10.10.2024. on behalf of the Federal Council. In 1957, it was “proven on record that the notorious “J” stamp in the passports of German and Austrian Jews had been introduced due to cooperation between German and Swiss authorities”, the Social Democrat Helmut Hubacher[18] Hubacher loc.cit. told the Swiss National Council on February 1, 1995, in reference to his country’s shared responsibility.
Among other things, Hubacher had called on the government to apologize for the instruction to the cantons[19] Ibid. that “Jews should not be regarded as political refugees”. He went on to write that “the assertion that nothing was known about the fate of those turned away at the border must also be rejected with the utmost determination”.
“Nevertheless, the country’s own co-responsibility was denied for decades. It was only through the forced confrontation with so-called dormant bank accounts[20] Swiss banks only took care of the clarification of up to 55,000 accounts of Holocaust victims and assets extorted from Jews, including the investigation of heirs, under international duress, retrieved on 10.8.2024. of Holocaust victims that a sustained discussion about the country’s own role in the Second World War was set in motion, although this did not take place without resistance. As late as 2007, the myth of a ‘falsification of history’[21] GRA loc.cit. in relation to the ‘J’ stamp was still being spread.”
Meanwhile, Hubacher’s parliamentary initiative was successful: “In the knowledge that such failures are ultimately inexcusable”, President Kaspar Villiger apologized on 7 May 1995 – the 50th anniversary of the end of the war and the Nazi empire. He also mentioned Switzerland’s involvement in the Jewish stampede with the aim of preventing the entry of Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria. After more than four decades, this ended the debate[22] Georg Kreis “Eine unglaubliche Affäre - Die Schweiz und der Judenstempel” (An incredible affair - Switzerland and the Judenstempel), Neue Zürcher Zeitung (German) on May 2, 2023, retrieved on August 10, 2024. started by the “Beobachter” in 1954.
“Switzerland was not the inventor of the “Judenstempel”. But – like other countries – it paved the way for it with its hard-hearted refugee policy,“ Urs Rauber summarized the now thoroughly revised state of knowledge[23] Beobachter loc.cit. in the “Beobachter” in 2001.
From the „Judenstempel“ …
The Nazis began their anti-Semitic legislation immediately after power was handed over to them on January 30, 1933. As early as February 28, 1933, the basic rights[24] „Verordnung des Reichspräsidenten zum Schutze des Deutschen Volkes“, (Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of the German People) from Feb4, 1933, retrieved April 11, 2023. were suspended. The Nazi government immediately implemented the labeling treaty: On October 5, 1938 – that is, the very day after the Swiss decision – the “Ordinance on Passports of Jews[25] Wikipedia on the “Ordinance on Passports of Jews”, retrieved on 5.9.2024.” introduces the red “J” stamp. These people were thus branded when leaving for a visa-free country. Identity cards and children’s identity cards were also marked in this way.
The First Ordinance to the “Reich Citizenship Act[26] Cf. Wikipedia about the Reich Citizenship Act (German), retrieved on 20.10.2024.”, published in November 1935, was an essential basis for injustice. Sentence 1 of §4 states: “A Jew cannot be a citizen of the Reich”; the dismissal of Jewish civil servants was also prescribed. The Second Ordinance[27] Wikipedia about Second Ordinance (Zweite Verordnung zur Durchführung des Gesetzes über die Änderung von Familiennamen und Vornamen) in German, retrieved on 10.8.2024. implementing this law of August 17, 1938 forced Jews in §2 to have the first names Israel or Sara entered in their papers. This was followed by the Passport Ordinance.
On October 28, 1938, 17,000 Polish Jews were arrested, carted to the Polish border and forced to wait out the bad weather in no man’s land until a Polish decision on their admission was made. After the pogrom of November 9, 1938, 30,000 “especially wealthy” Jewish men were arrested and imprisoned in concentration camps for up to two months. Their release was coupled with the demand that these men and their families leave the country immediately. They were only allowed to take a small amount of clothing and 10 Reichsmarks per person with them; the state confiscated the families’ assets for its war chest.
The external branding of all Jews from the age of 6 with the yellow star[28] Wording of the police ordinance (German), retrieved on 25.11.2024. was introduced by the Nazis on September 1, 1941 at the request of Goebbels. Violations of the obligation to wear the star were punishable by 150 Reichsmarks or imprisonment for up to six weeks. At the same time, Jews were forbidden to leave their community without written permission from the police.
… to the Wannsee Conference
On November 25, 1941, the Eleventh Decree to the Reich Citizenship Law followed: Jews were expatriated. Jews living abroad not only lost their citizenship[29] “75 years ago: Departure ban for Jews” (Vor 75 Jahren: Ausreiseverbot für Juden), Federal Agency for Civic Education online on 19.10.2016, retrieved on 10.8.2024.. The assets of those who remained in Germany were added to the Nazi state’s wish list. Shortly before this, the Nazi government imposed a travel ban on Jews. This meant that the marking of their passports had lost its significance.
On January 20, 1942, at the so-called Wannsee Conference[30] Wikipedia about the Wannseekonferenz (German), retrieved on 15.8.2024., Interior Minister Stuckart, blood judge Freisler and other Nazi bigwigs laid out the course of action for the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question”. A list presented there aimed at the murder of 11 million European Jews. This also concerned non-occupied countries: among other things, the extermination of 18,000 Jewish lives was determined for Switzerland, 8,000 for Sweden, 330,000 for England and 700,000 for the territory of Hitler’s French vassal Petain.
Hans Globke[31] Wikipedia about Hans Globke, the „Mann behind Adenauer“ (German), retrieved Aug 1, 2024. had qualified as an expert as co-author and commentator of the Nuremberg Race Laws and author of the above-mentioned Naming Ordinance and sat at the table of the Wannsee Conference for the Ministry of the Interior. In the Federal Republic of Germany, this accomplice to the “Final Solution” influenced West German politics from 1953 to 1963 as a gray eminence behind Chancellor Adenauer and the CDU leadership. In order to push through his appointment as State Secretary in the Federal Chancellery, Adenauer lied to the Bundestag by claiming that Globke’s past had been “thoroughly investigated”. Globke was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany on October 15, 1963. You just have to sit at the right tables …
Racism by law: The “Reich Citizenship Act” (above) and the decree on Jewish names.
11 million Europeans were on the Wannsee Conference murder list.
Sweden fears Jews more than Hitler
It is not surprising that Sweden went along with the “J” stamp. The Scandinavian country also maintained its “neutrality” for a long time after the end of the war. Nevertheless, Nazi sympathies and anti-Semitism were widespread there, right up to the government. This not only led to legal injustice. Today’s right-wing populists want to absolve their ideological forefathers of responsibility by claiming, contrary to the facts, that the Social Democrats are to blame for all of this.
“Swedish racism (showed) frightening parallels[32] Reinhard Wolff „Hässliches Mobiliar im schönen Volksheim“ (Ugly furniture in a beautiful Volksheim), German, in Die Tageszeitung (TAZ) on 5.2.2000, retrieved on 1.8.2024. to National Socialism,” noted journalist Reinhard Wolff. As early as 1927, Jewish immigration aspirants were declassified as “economic refugees” and turned away. At around the same time, right-wing extremist organizations adopted principles of US immigration law that were significantly influenced by the “racial biology” developed there. Sweden’s Minister of Justice at the time was Johan Thyrén[33] Wikipedia (schwedisch) über Johan Thyrén, abgerufen am 25.11.2024. (1861 – 1933), a co-founder of the “Swedish Society for Racial Hygiene”. Thyrén assisted ultra-right-wing newspapers, which labeled “Eastern Jews” and Roma as undesirable, with the sentence: “The value of a population with a rare uniform, unmixed ethnicity can hardly be overestimated”. Sweden’s Social Democrats responded to this overt racism in parliament with the remark that the law was “characterized by fanatical xenophobia[34] Cf. Ola Larsmo "Det finns inga politiska poäng att plocka på historien om J-passen" (No political conclusions can be drawn from the story of the J pass) in Dagens Nyheter (Swedish) on 19.6.2023,. Retrieved via wayback on 25.11.2024.”. The Social Democrat Arthur Engberg[35] Wikipedia about Arthur Engberg (Swedish), a Swedish social democratic politician who had decisively turned away from anti-Semitism in the mid-1920s. asked there whether Sweden’s law and justice should in future be based on an “enmity inherent in the blood between the races”.
In 1936, the right-wing Allgemeine Wahlverein demanded “stricter control of the influx of foreigners into the Reich” along Nazi lines. This was repeated until 1939 – the last time it was clearly understood from the chronicle as a reaction to the wave of refugees and expulsions following the Nazi pogroms of November 1938. Once again, it was the Social Democrats who opposed this – albeit in vain – with a motion: That all refugees persecuted[36] Cf. Larsmo loc.cit. in their home country for “political reasons” should be granted refugee status; this should also include Jewish refugees.
The incorporation of a racist element
In 1939, students demonstrated against asylum for ten Jewish doctors. Allowing such “oriental” elements into the country could harm the Swedish people. The “incorporation of the Jewish racial element into the Swedish tribe” must also be prevented, Wolff quoted.
Strong Swedish tones were heard at the Evian Conference[37] At the invitation of the USA, 32 states negotiated the admission of Jews in the French town from July 6 to 14, 1938, without success. See Wikipedia on the Evian Conference loc.cit.: It was not the life-threatening Nazi persecution or the refugee flows that were the problem. The problem was “European Jewish emigration as a whole”, explained the Swedish representative. The Swedish Nazis assisted with the demand to “stop the Jewish invasion” and demanded “Sweden to the Swedes[38] Cf. Wolff loc.cit.”.
Golda Meir[39] Wikipedia about Golda Meir, later Prime Minister of Israel (German), retrieved in 17.9.2024. (1898 – 1978), who was present as an observer in Evian, later asked the decisive question[40] Cf. Wolff loc.cit.: “Don’t you know that these damned ‘numbers’ are human beings, people who will have to spend the rest of their lives in concentration camps or on the run around the globe like lepers if you don’t take them in?”
Photo source: Wikipedia.
The governments of England and other countries that had contributed to the lack of results at the Evian Conference later revised their asylum policies. However, this only happened in England, for example, after the public, horrified by the pogrom[41] British asylum policy ends with the detention of tens of thousands of refugees and the deportation of around 10,000 civilian internees overseas. in November 1938, demanded the admission of Jews and politically persecuted persons.
It was not only in view of the queues of German Jews outside Sweden’s embassy in Prague after the “Reichskristallnacht” that Meir’s question could by no means be answered with “no”. Nevertheless, Sweden stuck to its racist line: Ambassador Folke Malmar[42] Cf. Wolff loc.cit. reported to Stockholm that “such immigrants, who, as two thousand years of experience teaches us, never assimilate”, should be kept away.
Sweden tightened[43] Cf. Larsmo loc.cit. its laws to keep refugees out and introduced a visa requirement[44] Cf. "Förföljelsen av judar under 1930-talet" (Swedish) online at Forum för levande historia (Forum for Living History), retrieved on 21.12.2024. for German citizens with the “J” stamp in their passports on October 27, 1938. At the beginning of 1939, the “foreign invasion” included 3,420 Jewish refugees, according to a Swedish government census.
The Australian representative in Evian acted in accordance with the racist principle of the White Australia Policy[45] The National Museum of Australia published a short background on White Australia Policy.. A year earlier, Prime Minister Joseph A. Lyons had declared “Our population is 99.1% British[46] Quote from an election campaign speech by Joseph Lyons on 28 September 1937. and we want to keep it that way”. His trade minister Thomas White[47] John Rickard in "Australian Dictionary of Biography" about Thomas White, loc.cit. Joseph Toltz „Loss, trials and compassion: music of Australia's Jewish refugees“, University of Sydney online, retrieved on 10.12.2024. (nomen est omen?) announced in Evian: “Because we have no real race problem, we are not out to import one by encouraging large-scale immigration from abroad”.
Gold-plated “neutrality”
While Nazi Germany was demonstratively deporting 17,000 Polish Jews to Poland at the end of October 1938, Sweden and the Nazis had long since become mutually accommodating. Sweden supplied iron ore, ball bearings and other militarily important goods to the Nazi Empire’s war industry, which was isolated from world trade. Weapons and even 2 million soldiers were transported through Sweden by rail, cynically disguised as Red Cross transports. In June/July 1941, for example, the entire 163rd Infantry Division[48] Cf. Wikipedia „Sweden during World War II“, retrieved on 25.11.2024. of the Nazi Wehrmacht, including heavy weapons, was channeled from Norway through Sweden to the Finnish deployment area against the Soviet Union. The Nazi air force was granted overflight rights, Wolff researched.
In Sweden, “neutrality” was not – as was usual internationally – a synonym for impartial distance from the warring parties. The slogan was used to cover up a secret alliance with the fascist aggressors for the sake of profit. After all, Nazi Germany paid in gold and, as we all know, gold doesn’t stink. The public was told that the only way to keep the Nazis out of the country was through neutrality. This swept under the parliamentary carpet what had happened to neutral states such as Belgium[49] Cf. Wikipedia about The Battle of Belgium, retrieved on 25.11.2024. and the Netherlands[50] Wikipedia on the history of the Netherlands, retrieved on 25.11.2024. in 1940. The Swedish version of “gilded neutrality” prompted Hitler’s propaganda chief Goebbels[51] Joseph Goebbels,' diary 1942 cf. Süddeutsche Zeitung on 11.5.2010, retrieved on 1.8.2024. to heap praise on it: “Sweden has done more for the German war effort than is usually assumed,” he noted in his diary. “But they emphasize their neutrality in a way that is to our advantage.”
Personalities such as Raoul Wallenberg[52] Wikipedia about Raoul Wallenberg, retrieved on 5.7.2024. (1912-1952) and Count Folke Bernadotte[53] Wikipedia about Graf Bernadotte, retrieved on 5.7.2024. (1895-1948) may help to save Sweden’s honor. However, official policy did not change until the end of 1942. This happened when the deportation of 772 Norwegian Jews[54] „The Deportatoin of Jews“, Norwegian Holocaust-Doku Centre HOL-Senteret, retrieved on 26.11.2024. to Auschwitz on November 26, 1942 with the cooperation of the local police[55] The Wikipedia article on the history of Jews in Norway (German) points out, among other things, that the responsible police chief of Oslo, Knut Rød, was later acquitted of the accusation of collaboration and remained in the police service until 1965. Retrieved on 25.11.2024. became known. At the same time, a turning point in the course of the war emerged at Stalingrad. In 1943, Sweden took part in the rescue of Danish Jews. However, the fame of this good deed faded: “Eastern Jews” from the Baltic states[56] Cf. Wolff loc.cit. were abandoned to the “Final Solution”.
Reappraisal in Swedish
Rather less surprising is the denial of co-responsibility for the extermination of the Jews in Sweden today. For example, the party Sverigedemokraterna[57] Wikipedia about the SD-Party (German), retrieved on 20.8.2024. (Sweden Democrats, SD) claims a close relationship between the Social Democrats and the Nazis. “It was the Social Democrats who demanded that Hitler’s Germany stamp a ‘J’ in Jewish passports so that Jews could be deported at the border,“ is quoted from the Facebook page[58] Cf. Ola Larsmo loc.cit. of the German AfD’s sister party. This thick-fisted propaganda lie does not conceal the fact that it was not only Sweden’s right-wing populists who stirred up anti-Semitism back then and are now stirring up blanket xenophobia, fears of alleged Islamization etc. and propagating conspiracy narratives etc. to match.
Propaganda must not be allowed to win
From a Swedish perspective, the publicist Ola Larsmo[59] Cf. Ola Larsmo loc.cit. develops an image of Sweden that is quite comparable to the situation in other (even larger) countries, both then and now, as “a small country paralyzed by opposing political positions and subject to the same terrible refugee policy as the rest of the world. (…) This image of division and despair is admittedly difficult to bear. (…) It remains to be added: The pathological effect of historical propaganda and historical distortion is the impression that this is a discussion about the honor of politicians, parties and civil servants. That is not the point. It is about those who were expelled and murdered. If we forget that, propaganda has won.”
Allied aid and 50 years of inactivity
In post-war Germany, the Stamp Ordinance, like many other Nazi regulations, was repealed by the Control Council Law No. 1[60] Wikipedia about Kontrollratsgesetz Nr. 1 (German), retrieved on 20.8.2024. on September 20, 1945 by the four Allies. But why did it take more than 50 years for the Bundestag to pass the “Act on the Repeal of National Socialist Injustices in the Administration of Criminal Justice[61] Wikipedia about the "Act on the Repeal of National Socialist Injustices in the Administration of Criminal Justice"; Gesetzestext, abgerufen am 20.8.2024 (NS-AufhG)”?
It was not only the civil servants at the top of the Federal Ministry of Justice (“Die Akte Rosenburg[62] Christoph Safferling, Manfred Görtemaker, „Die Akte Rosenburg – Das BMJ und die NS-Zeit“, 600 pages. Complete version (ISBN 978-3-406-69768-5) C.H. Beck editors 2016. A short version of 48 pages can be downloaded from the Ministry's website.”) who were riddled with former Nazi lawyers until well into the 1970s. The ubiquitous presence of Nazi sycophants prevented the prosecution of Nazi crimes.
In 1960, the German government of Chancellor Adenauer (CDU) refused to negotiate the extradition of Adolf Eichmann[63] Irmtrud Wijak „Fritz Bauer 1903-1968. Eine Biografie". 2009, page 302. Cf. Wikipedia about Fritz Bauer, abgeruifen am 20.11.2024. with Argentina. In 1962, the then young politician and later Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl[64] Conrad Taler aka Kurt Nelhiebel „Asche auf vereisten Wegen. Eine Chronik des Grauens. Berichte vom Auschwitz-Prozess“ (Ashes on icy paths. A chronicle of horror. Reports from the Auschwitz trial) . German; Cologne 2003, page 193. Cf.Wikipedia about Fritz Bauer loc.cit. (CDU) justified the non-prosecution of Nazi crimes with the brazen remark that too little time had passed since the Nazi regime to be able to form a final judgment.
Attorney General Fritz Bauer, who was in charge of prosecuting Nazi perpetrators, felt persecuted himself: “When I leave my (office) room, I enter enemy territory[65] „Feindliches Ausland“ (hostile foreign country) in „Der Spiegel“ (German) from 30.7.1995, Cf. Wikipedia about Fritz Bauer, loc.cit..”
The first trial[66] Wikipedia about the Auschwitz Trials (German), retrieved on 20.10.2023. against 22 perpetrators of the Auschwitz extermination camp could only begin in 1963.
Comment
The stamp scenario, whether Swiss, Swedish or German, certainly has a contemporary feel to it: once again, boats are said to be full, there is a threat of foreign infiltration and Germany must be given back to the Germans, as the populists sometimes even say in the Bundestag. The economic flight argument is used to defame asylum seekers as a drain on German prosperity. Of course, none of the xenophobic crybabies have anything against emigrants or even Jews. The problem is “immigration as a whole”, they insinuate, taking up an argument of the Swedish Nazis. Countries of origin, religions etc. are interchangeable in this political recipe according to current populist preferences. There are even calls for German citizenship to be withdrawn from the children of immigrants born here.
Peter Dehn
Punishments and sentences for violations of Nazi injustice, including the Passport Ordinance, for not wearing the star, etc., were therefore only repealed in Germany by the Nazi Reconstruction Act of 1998. Those convicted by the unjust regime were finally rehabilitated, although the victims of the Freisler’s People’s Court (Volksgerichtshof) and the extermination camps and the countless other victims of unjust justice were not.
Please note: We would like to thank Jürgen Heinrich for translations from Swedish into German. Translation of citations from German to English, if source was not available, by the authors.
Footnotes
show
- [1]↑The title of the non-fiction book by Alfred A. Häsler (1967) and the movie of the same name written and directed by Markus Imhoof (Silver Bear and other prizes at the 1981 Berlinale) became synonymous with the refusal to help asylum seekers, retrieved on 13.11.2024.
- [2]↑Helmut Hubacher, Submission to the National Council on “J-Stamp” of February 1, 1995 in Bulletin of the Swiss National Council No. 95.3039, retrieved on Nov 13, 2024.
- [3]↑Wikipedia about the Evian Conference, retrieved on 10.11.2024.
- [4]↑One of them was the car developer Josef Ganz, who was expelled in 1951.
- [5]↑“Der schweizerische Beobachter”, founded in 1927, campaigns for law and justice. The paper first took a critical look at the country's asylum policy during the Nazi era in 1954.“Der schweizerische Beobachter”, founded in 1927, campaigns for law and justice. The paper first took a critical look at the country's asylum policy during the Nazi era in 1954.
- [6]↑Urs Rauber reassesses the 1954 report in "Judenstempel: Korrektur einer Halbwahrheit" (Correction of a half-truth), published on 19.3.2001 in the “Beobachter”, especially regarding the responsibility of the former head of the immigration police Rothmund and the “invention” of the red “J” stamp, retrieved on 10.11.2024.
- [7]↑Claire Deuticke “Felix Nussbaum - Self-Portrait with Jewish Passport” online on The Art Inspector, retrieved on 25.11.2024.
- [8]↑„Beobachter“ loc.cit.
- [9]↑Wikipedia about Heinrich Rothmund, retrieved on 15.10.2024.
- [10]↑Cf. documents collection VEJ 2/127 and German Federal Archives and Caspar Battegay, Naomi Lubrich “Jüdische Schweiz: 50 Objekte erzählen Geschichte”, pages 158-161. Ed.: Jewish Museum of Switzerland, Basel 2018, ISBN 978-3-85616-847-6. Cited from Wikipedia on the "J" stamp (German), retrieved on 13.11.2024.
- [11]↑Marco Jorio “Judenstempel”. Published online on 10.3.2015 in Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (HLS), retrieved on 5.8.2024.
- [12]↑GRA - Foundation against Racism and Antisemitism, Glossary "J" stamp, retrieved on 13.11.2024.
- [13]↑Wikipedia about Helmut Gollwitzer (German), retrieved on 15.11.2024.
- [14]↑Wikipedia about the Bekennende Kirche, retrieved on 10.10.2024.
- [15]↑Hamel to Gollwitzer on 26.11.1938 (German), via Peace Center of the Martin Niemöller House, retrieved on 15.11.2024.
- [16]↑Cf. M.M. Mäder “Die Juden in der Schweiz” (Jews in Switzerland) from 9.9.1997 under Jewish Live online, retrieved on 12.12.2024.
- [17]↑Der komplette Bericht „Die Flüchtlingspolitik der Schweiz in den Jahren 1933 bis 1955“ in der Datenbank Dodis für Diplomatische Dokumente der Schweiz (German), abgerufen am 10.10.2024.
- [18]↑Hubacher loc.cit.
- [19]↑Ibid.
- [20]↑Swiss banks only took care of the clarification of up to 55,000 accounts of Holocaust victims and assets extorted from Jews, including the investigation of heirs, under international duress, retrieved on 10.8.2024.
- [21]↑GRA loc.cit.
- [22]↑Georg Kreis “Eine unglaubliche Affäre - Die Schweiz und der Judenstempel” (An incredible affair - Switzerland and the Judenstempel), Neue Zürcher Zeitung (German) on May 2, 2023, retrieved on August 10, 2024.
- [23]↑Beobachter loc.cit.
- [24]↑„Verordnung des Reichspräsidenten zum Schutze des Deutschen Volkes“, (Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of the German People) from Feb4, 1933, retrieved April 11, 2023.
- [25]↑Wikipedia on the “Ordinance on Passports of Jews”, retrieved on 5.9.2024.
- [26]↑Cf. Wikipedia about the Reich Citizenship Act (German), retrieved on 20.10.2024.
- [27]↑Wikipedia about Second Ordinance (Zweite Verordnung zur Durchführung des Gesetzes über die Änderung von Familiennamen und Vornamen) in German, retrieved on 10.8.2024.
- [28]↑Wording of the police ordinance (German), retrieved on 25.11.2024.
- [29]↑“75 years ago: Departure ban for Jews” (Vor 75 Jahren: Ausreiseverbot für Juden), Federal Agency for Civic Education online on 19.10.2016, retrieved on 10.8.2024.
- [30]↑Wikipedia about the Wannseekonferenz (German), retrieved on 15.8.2024.
- [31]↑Wikipedia about Hans Globke, the „Mann behind Adenauer“ (German), retrieved Aug 1, 2024.
- [32]↑Reinhard Wolff „Hässliches Mobiliar im schönen Volksheim“ (Ugly furniture in a beautiful Volksheim), German, in Die Tageszeitung (TAZ) on 5.2.2000, retrieved on 1.8.2024.
- [33]↑Wikipedia (schwedisch) über Johan Thyrén, abgerufen am 25.11.2024.
- [34]↑Cf. Ola Larsmo "Det finns inga politiska poäng att plocka på historien om J-passen" (No political conclusions can be drawn from the story of the J pass) in Dagens Nyheter (Swedish) on 19.6.2023,. Retrieved via wayback on 25.11.2024.
- [35]↑Wikipedia about Arthur Engberg (Swedish), a Swedish social democratic politician who had decisively turned away from anti-Semitism in the mid-1920s.
- [36]↑Cf. Larsmo loc.cit.
- [37]↑At the invitation of the USA, 32 states negotiated the admission of Jews in the French town from July 6 to 14, 1938, without success. See Wikipedia on the Evian Conference loc.cit.
- [38]↑Cf. Wolff loc.cit.
- [39]↑Wikipedia about Golda Meir, later Prime Minister of Israel (German), retrieved in 17.9.2024.
- [40]↑Cf. Wolff loc.cit.
- [41]↑British asylum policy ends with the detention of tens of thousands of refugees and the deportation of around 10,000 civilian internees overseas.
- [42]↑Cf. Wolff loc.cit.
- [43]↑Cf. Larsmo loc.cit.
- [44]↑Cf. "Förföljelsen av judar under 1930-talet" (Swedish) online at Forum för levande historia (Forum for Living History), retrieved on 21.12.2024.
- [45]↑The National Museum of Australia published a short background on White Australia Policy.
- [46]↑Quote from an election campaign speech by Joseph Lyons on 28 September 1937.
- [47]↑John Rickard in "Australian Dictionary of Biography" about Thomas White, loc.cit. Joseph Toltz „Loss, trials and compassion: music of Australia's Jewish refugees“, University of Sydney online, retrieved on 10.12.2024.
- [48]↑Cf. Wikipedia „Sweden during World War II“, retrieved on 25.11.2024.
- [49]↑Cf. Wikipedia about The Battle of Belgium, retrieved on 25.11.2024.
- [50]↑Wikipedia on the history of the Netherlands, retrieved on 25.11.2024.
- [51]↑Joseph Goebbels,' diary 1942 cf. Süddeutsche Zeitung on 11.5.2010, retrieved on 1.8.2024.
- [52]↑Wikipedia about Raoul Wallenberg, retrieved on 5.7.2024.
- [53]↑Wikipedia about Graf Bernadotte, retrieved on 5.7.2024.
- [54]↑„The Deportatoin of Jews“, Norwegian Holocaust-Doku Centre HOL-Senteret, retrieved on 26.11.2024.
- [55]↑The Wikipedia article on the history of Jews in Norway (German) points out, among other things, that the responsible police chief of Oslo, Knut Rød, was later acquitted of the accusation of collaboration and remained in the police service until 1965. Retrieved on 25.11.2024.
- [56]↑Cf. Wolff loc.cit.
- [57]↑Wikipedia about the SD-Party (German), retrieved on 20.8.2024.
- [58]↑Cf. Ola Larsmo loc.cit.
- [59]↑Cf. Ola Larsmo loc.cit.
- [60]↑Wikipedia about Kontrollratsgesetz Nr. 1 (German), retrieved on 20.8.2024.
- [61]↑Wikipedia about the "Act on the Repeal of National Socialist Injustices in the Administration of Criminal Justice"; Gesetzestext, abgerufen am 20.8.2024
- [62]↑Christoph Safferling, Manfred Görtemaker, „Die Akte Rosenburg – Das BMJ und die NS-Zeit“, 600 pages. Complete version (ISBN 978-3-406-69768-5) C.H. Beck editors 2016. A short version of 48 pages can be downloaded from the Ministry's website.
- [63]↑Irmtrud Wijak „Fritz Bauer 1903-1968. Eine Biografie". 2009, page 302. Cf. Wikipedia about Fritz Bauer, abgeruifen am 20.11.2024.
- [64]↑Conrad Taler aka Kurt Nelhiebel „Asche auf vereisten Wegen. Eine Chronik des Grauens. Berichte vom Auschwitz-Prozess“ (Ashes on icy paths. A chronicle of horror. Reports from the Auschwitz trial) . German; Cologne 2003, page 193. Cf.Wikipedia about Fritz Bauer loc.cit.
- [65]↑„Feindliches Ausland“ (hostile foreign country) in „Der Spiegel“ (German) from 30.7.1995, Cf. Wikipedia about Fritz Bauer, loc.cit.
- [66]↑Wikipedia about the Auschwitz Trials (German), retrieved on 20.10.2023.
