What was the Jewish population of Europe in 1939?

Answer 1

Estimated Jewish population living in Europe in 2002: (source: "Quid.com")

• France 510 800
• Great Britain 276 000
• Russia 275 000
• Ukraine 110 000
• Germany 95 000
• Hungary 52 000
• Belgium 31 500
• Italy 29 500
• Netherlands 26 500
• Belarus 25 000
• Switzerland 18 000
• Sweden 15 000
• Spain 12 000
• Romania 11 000
• Austria 9 000
• Latvia 9 000
• Denmark 6 400
• Moldavia 6 000
• Greece 4 500
• Lithuania 4 000
• Poland 3 500
• Slovakia 3 300
• Czech Republic 2 800
• Bulgaria 2 500
• Estonia 2 000
• Others 8,500

Total 1,551,000

1,570,000 if you include 19,000 from Turkey (depending on of what is your definition of "Europe")

Answer 2

The Holocaust - that is, the Nazi genocide of the Jews - began in 1941. The number of Jews killed by the Nazis before the start of World War 2 was about:

• Perhaps a couple of hundred in 1933.
• An estimated 400 during the Kristallnacht - that is, the pogrom of 9-10 November 1945 and a further 2,000+ at concentration camps in the aftermath.

(There were an estimated 9.5 million Jews in Europe when World War 2 started, so at that stage the percentage would have been relatively small).

The mass killings started later - with the use of mobile killing units from July 1941 onwards. Routine mass gassings began at Chelmno on 8 December 1941.

Of course, as is well known, by May 1945 about 6 million Jews had been slaughtered.

Answer 3

Just before the start of World War 2 there were an estimated 9.2 million Jews in Europe.

Answer 4

Around 9.5 million

Answer 5

505,000-512,000