Tag: Holocaust

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British Mandate

One area I have always wanted to cover for you is the attitudes of western countries in the 1930s toward Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany. Separately, one of our readers suggested I write about the British Mandate (ergo the blog title) and its background leading up to and including World War II. So, I decided to combine both topics since they overlapped one another.

The history of the British Mandate, or “Mandate for Palestine” from its inception to modern-day is very interesting but very complex (and its legacy evokes passionate emotions). I’m quite certain that I have likely failed to meet the expectations of our reader who probably desired a greater in-depth examination of the Mandate and for that, I apologize.

Map of the original British Mandate territories. Map by anonymous (date unknown).
Map of the original British Mandate territories. Map by anonymous (date unknown).

This is my attempt to frame an abbreviated history (albeit a “bird’s eye view”) of the role Palestine played within the context of Jewish refugees seeking a place to escape the Nazis. It is also about the unfortunate stance many countries took (including the United States) in turning away Jewish refugees due to political reasons as well as widespread anti-Semitism sentiments of politicians and citizens.

Did You Know?

Did you know that Queen Elizabeth II’s profile faces right on every coin she’s featured on? The tradition is to reverse the profile with each succeeding reigning monarch. So, going back to Queen Victoria, her profile faces left while her son, Edward VII (r. 1901-1910), faces right. His son, George V (r. 1910-1936), looks to the left, but his second son, George VI (r. 1936-1952) also faces to the left. Did George VI (Queen Elizabeth II’s father) break tradition? Not really. It was George V’s eldest son, Edward VIII who chose to break tradition and during his short reign of eleven months (he abdicated in December 1936), the coins were minted with his profile facing left. After the abdication, George VI took the view that his brother’s profile should have been to the right and as such, opted to continue the tradition by facing left. His daughter carried on the tradition and her profile is to the right. Read More British Mandate

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The Argentina Papers

Two of our previous blogs discussed Hitler’s enablers (refer to blogs, Hitler’s Enablers – Part One and Hitler’s Enablers – Part Two [click here to read part one and here to read part two]). Without hundreds of thousands (millions?) of people to carry out his orders, policies, and directives, Hitler would likely never have attained the status of the greatest mass murderer in the history of mankind. For a myriad of reasons, the majority of the Führer’s enablers went unpunished or if convicted, never fully served their sentences (click here to read the blog The Wisemen). For one group of enablers (i.e., war criminals), their post-war stories centered around the “ratlines” (click here to read the blog ODESSA: Myth or Truth?) that guided them out of Europe and in many cases, to South America (in particular, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile). For some (e.g., Josef Mengele, Aloïs Brunner, and Walter Rauff), they managed to either elude capture or were protected by a dictator and ultimately died in their “adopted” country. Others such as Franz Stangl, Josef Schwammberger, and Erich Priebke were eventually extradited to West Germany where they were convicted and died in prison.

Today’s blog is about Adolf Eichmann, one of the most notorious Nazis responsible for the organization and execution of the Final Solution. (Contrary to certain article headlines, Eichmann was not the “architect” of the Final Solution⏤he carried out the orders.) Eichmann’s capture in Argentina by the Mossad in 1960 and subsequent trial in Israel in 1961 were significant events on the world stage. Not widely known for his role in the Holocaust, Eichmann’s trial re-opened the file on Nazi atrocities and provoked a world-wide discussion about the Holocaust and Nazi genocide⏤topics that had been suppressed for fifteen years. Read More The Argentina Papers