How was life for jew's different after the holocaust?

Answer 1

AnswerJews, for 2000 years, have been an outcast group in western culture, often despised to the point of being murdered and robbed.

Point being, life for Jews before the Holocaust was hardly a bed or roses. They were often driven from their homes, their culture attacked, their property seized. They were forbidden entry into various cultural groups and occupations. Persecution was rampant through the USA, Britain, Russia, Austria and various other nations.

It should be noted that the leading German state, Prussia, was actually one of the most tolerant of the Jews in Europe. Jews held many important positions in that state and were important in their military. However, the new German state created in 1870 passed laws that restricted Jews in certain occupations such as teaching. Russia, meanwhile was still using state sanctioned attacks on Jews, called pogroms, where Jews were often killed by the hundred.

Hitler came to power in 1933 and began a program to further restrict the Jews in Germany. The list of occupations they could not hold was extended. Special taxes were passed on them. Many Jews decided to flee the country but many were denied this due to restrictions against them in other countries, including the USA.

Nazi brutality against the Jews continued until in a Jew in Paris murdered a German diplomatic official in 1938. This triggered an outpouring of rage in Germany against the Jews where the attacks grew similar to the pogrom policy of Russia.

When WWII started in late 1939, Germany was soon isolated by the British blockade. This led to the Nazis reaching the conclusion that the Jews could not be emigrated and must be killed. The holocaust began shortly after.

Answer (including some corrections)By 1871 the Jews in Germany had full legal equality with gentiles. There were no restrictions in teaching. However, there was prejudice against Jews *especially in the army, the civil service and in the universities*. (Until the late 20th century no country had equal opportunities legislation, only formal equality. Prejudice was 'accepted', even where it was deplored).

Rampant persecution in the U.S. and Britain? Oh, really? It's important to distinguish between *prejudice (and disadvantage)* and *persecution*.

One of the countries where politically organized anti-semitism was most vicious in the early part of the 20th century was France. There was persecution in Austria and, worst of all, in Tsarist Russia.

After 1918 antisemitism was particularly bad in Poland, Hungary and Romania.

Obviously, the situation in Germany - which before 1933 had had a reputation for being liberal, deteriorated when the Nazis came to power. As the previous answer indicates, the course of WW2 itself made fleeing from Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe increasingly difficult, almost impossible.

It's worth adding that after the Russian Revolution, some refugees from Tsarist Russia fled westward and brought their peculiarly nasty antisemitism with them. Before 1918 the Jews had been regarded as the bearers of liberalism; after 1918 they were widely seen as Bolshevists.

Last but not least, the Roman Catholic Church was experiencing difficulties adapting to the modern world and from about 1880 knowingly spread lies and conspiracy theories in some countries about 'Jews and freemasons'. It would be a mistake to underestimate the role of this 'churchy' antisemitism.

Incidentally, that claim about the British blockade is irrelevant. Other countries suffered severe shortages in World War 2, but did not murder minorities.

Answer 2

It was terrible, to suffer though the holocaust it would be like suffering though hell. Many Jewish people died they were sent to concentration camps were if you weren't killed from starvation or diseases, you died from execution were you were looked in a chamber and gas would fill the chamber and painfully suffocate you. If you resisted capture then you'd be killed on the spot.

Having survived the years of the holocaust, the Jews of Europe were truly traumatized. Their only hope was to find any of their loved ones that may have survived and find a safe place to live. They did the things that were necessary to build a new life. It took most survivors many years to talk about those years, some were never able to. It was left to those who were able to try to tell the stories. Today, most people know about the horrors of the holocaust, but it took many, many years for these survivors to tell their stories and create the memorials. It was more important to them in the decades following to find a 'normal' life and, in defiance of the Nazi's efforts, to have and raise the next generation to carry their families' legacy forward.

Answer 3

Immediately after the fall of the Nazis, it was not much better. The antisemitism that had been ingrained into people for, especially the last twelve years did not disappear overnight. Many were not welcomed home. Those who came from territories under the Soviet yoke would find that their homes had been reallocated to other people.

Answer 4

they no longer had to fear for their lives in the same way.

Answer 5

unpleasant.