The War Against the Jews
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Lucy Dawidowicz wrote the 1975 book, The War Against the Jews. The book's premise is that one of Hitler's main purposes was to eliminate Jewish populations throughout Europe. Hitler pursued this policy even to the detriment of pragmatic wartime actions such as moving troops and securing supply lines. For example, he delayed railcars providing supplies to front line troops in the Soviet Union so that Jews could be deported by rail from the USSR to death camps.
She write that Anti-Semitism has a long history within Christianity. The line of "anti-Semitic descent" from Luther to Hitler is "easy to draw," according to Lucy Dawidowicz. In the Bantam edition 1986, p.23. ISBN 055334532X she writes that Luther, the author of On the Jews and Their Lies, and Hitler were obsessed by the "demonologized universe" inhabited by Jews. She contents that similarities between Luther's anti-Jewish writings and modern anti-Semitism are no coincidence, because they derived from a common history of Judenhass, which can be traced to Haman's advice to Ahasuerus, although modern German anti-Semitism also has its roots in German nationalism and Christian anti-Semitism, a foundation she says was laid by the Roman Catholic Church and "upon which Luther built."
The book also provides detailed listings by country of the number of Jews killed in World War II. Dawidowicz researched birth and death records in many cities of prewar Europe to come up with a death toll of 5,933,900 Jews. Many consider this number an underestimate since many records were lost during the war, and since many births and deaths were not recorded in small towns and villages.
Her listings are as follows:
| Country | Estimated Pre-War Jewish Population | Estimated Jewish Population Annihilated | Percent Killed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poland | 3,300,000 | 3,000,000 | 90 |
| Baltic Countries | 253,000 | 228,000 | 90 |
| Germany/Austria | 240,000 | 210,000 | 90 |
| Bohemia & Moravia | 90,000 | 80,000 | 89 |
| Slovakia | 90,000 | 75,000 | 83 |
| Greece | 70,000 | 54,000 | 77 |
| The Netherlands | 140,000 | 105,000 | 75 |
| Hungary | 650,000 | 450,000 | 70 |
| SSR White Russia | 375,000 | 245,000 | 65 |
| SSR Ukraine | 1,500,000 | 900,000 | 60 |
| Belgium | 65,000 | 40,000 | 60 |
| Yugoslavia | 43,000 | 26,000 | 60 |
| Romania | 600,000 | 300,000 | 50 |
| Norway | 1,800 | 900 | 50 |
| France | 350,000 | 90,000 | 26 |
| Bulgaria | 64,000 | 14,000 | 22 |
| Italy | 40,000 | 8,000 | 20 |
| Luxembourg | 5,000 | 1,000 | 20 |
| Russia | 975,000 | 107,000 | 11 |
| Denmark | 8,000 | ? | ? |
| Finland | 2,000 | ? | ? |
| Totals | 8,861,800 | 5,933,900 | 67 |
