Anschluss Doubled the Number of Jews in Germany

From the criminology perspective (and that’s the only correct perspective), the Holocaust was a homicide. Serial homicide, to be more precise. Serial mass murder, to be exact. True, it was one of the worst mass murders in human history… but it still was a serial homicide. Hence, not surprisingly, Nazi Holocaust perpetrators had the mentality of serial killers.

And serial killers snap – when a certain critical mass has been accumulated. Critical mass of events (the “slab stack” of “murderous snow”) … or the number of Jews under German control (in Greater Germany, to be more precise).

While Nazis had just over half a million German Jews under their control, they believed that they could make Germany Judenrein (cleansed of Jews) strictly by forced emigration (“deportation light”).

Actually, they were quite successful in that endeavor – by the end of summer of 1939, 304,000 German Jews left the country semi-voluntarily (via Haavara agreement and other routes). Leaving the Nazis with just over 200,000 of the “undesirable subjects”.

Anschluss of Austria in March of 1938 radically changed the “Jewish question” in Germany: it doubled the number of Jews under Nazi control (to just over 400,000). Worse (for the Jews), it became a radical “game changer”, because it launched the “acquisition process” that after the occupation of Poland increased this number to totally unmanageable during the war 3 million… no wonder the Nazis “snapped”.

In reality, Anschluss of Austria was a far more complex event than it is portrayed in Nazi propaganda. For starters, over 70% favored unification with Germany – so the Anschluss did reflect the will of Austrian people.

Second, to fight and win the (inevitable) genuinely existential war with the Bolshevist Soviet Union, Germany needed Austrian army, industry, economy and manpower. True, it was an emotional “pet project” for Adolf Hitler (born right on the Austro-German border) … but in 1938 it was no longer about emotions. It was about survival – for both Austria and Germany. Cut and dry, plain and simple.

That said, in the long term, voluntary takeover of Austria by Germany made as much sense as unification of USA and Canada – no sense at all. Although Germans and Austrians do speak the same language; their mentality, culture and history are simply way too different for them to be parts of the same state.

So, after the end of Second Great War both nations regained their independence from each other… this time for good (EU membership is a different matter entirely).