The following section provides a detailed overview of the events that followed the German invasion or control of a number of countries. These countries are:

• France – Invaded by Germany on 10^th May 1940.
• The Netherlands – Invaded by Germany on 10^th May 1940.
• Poland – Invaded by Germany on 1^st September 1939.
• Romania – Allied to Germany from 5th July 1940.

German invasion of Poland

The German Army attacked Poland on 1 September 1939. Poland was defeated by the 28 September 1939. The Polish government fled to France, then, in May 1940, to London, after the German invasion of France.

The Nazi-Soviet Pact, agreed and signed in August 1939, paved the way for Germany and the Soviet Union to divide Poland between them. The western area, containing 600,000 Jews, was annexed into ‘Greater Germany’. The Soviet Union took the eastern section, adding 1.2 million Jews to its population. On 23 October 1939, the area not annexed to Germany or the Soviet Union, containing around 1.5 million Jews, was placed under the control of a German administration; the General Government.

Whilst the majority of the Polish population were brutally suppressed, two million Poles of German blood (Volksdeustche) were given special privileges. Many Poles were forced to move in order to make room for ethnic Germans. Thousands of Polish leaders and resisters were killed or captured.

Attacks on Polish Jews

Antisemitic attacks and measures began immediately. Around 300,000 Jews fled to Soviet controlled territories. On 21 September 1939, Reynhard Heydrich, head of the Gestapo, issued an order that the remaining 1.8 million Jews living within the area of Poland annexed to Germany should be expelled to the General Government. The Jews were to be concentrated in large cities near major railway junctions. Forced deportations began as early as 21 November 1939.

On 23 November 1939, Hans Frank head of the General Government decreed that all Jews residing in the General Government should wear a white armband with a blue Star of David. He had previously ordered that Jewish males be sent for forced labour. The Nazi regime began seizing Jewish owned businesses, whilst Jews were allowed only a small amount of money. From January 1940, Jews were forbidden to use trains, except by special permit. Jews were also ordered to register their property with the Nazi authorities.

The first ghetto was established on 8 October 1939, in Piotrakow Trybunalski, 16 miles south of the central Polish town of Lodz. The first large ghetto, was established at Lodz during February 1940. Throughout 1940 and 1941, the Nazis established hundreds of ghettos as the German armed forces invaded lands accross Europe.

Invasion of France

After Hitler came to power many German Jews began to move to the Netherlands as they believed that its neutrality during WWI, would mean it would be a safe place to escape the Nazi’s antisemitic policies. Many of those who entered the country did so illegally. The Dutch governement set up a series internment camps including one in the north-east at Westerbork. After the outbreak of the Second World War Westerbork would play a significant role in the transportation of Dutch Jews to the death camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau and Sobibor.

Invasion of the Netherlands

On 10 May 1940, the German Army invaded the Netherlands. Within four days, after witnessing the bombing of Rotterdam and receiving a threat of the same in Amsterdam, the Dutch army surrendered. Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands fled to Great Britain, where she established a government-in-exile. Very soon, Hitler ordered the establishment of a German civil administration in the Netherlands under the command of the SS. Many Austrian-born Nazis supervised the work of the Dutch civil service.

The Dutch Jewish Council

The Netherlands had a Jewish population of 140,000, 75,000 of whom lived in Amsterdam. Many Jews attempted to escape the country. However, a series of anti-Jewish measures made this extremely difficult. In September 1940, Jewish newspapers were closed down. Then, during November, Jewish civil servants were sacked and the assets of all Jewish businesses were registered.

In December 1940, the Jewish community in the Netherlands established the Jewish Coordinating Committee as a defensive measure against the Nazis. Two months later, the Nazi regime set up a Judenrat; the Joodse Raad, to administer orders of the SS concerning the lives of Jews in the Netherlands.

In January 1941, all Jews living within the Netherlands were ordered to register. A total of 159,806 persons registered, including 19,561 born of mixed marriages. The total included some 25,000 Jewish refugees from the German Reich.

General strike in the Netherlands

A confrontation in a cafe between Jews and the German police resulted in 389 young people being sent to Buchenwald and Mauthausen concentration camps. Many Dutch citizens publicly criticized the Nazi measures. In response to the deportations, Dutch workers called a general strike on 25 February 1941. These strikes brought factories, public transport and public services to a standstill. However, the Germans brutally suppressed the strike within three days. Whilst Nazi policy hardened, they realised that it would not be easy to convert the whole of the Dutch population to Nazism.

A history of antisemitism

As a result of the treaties that followed the First World War the territory and population of Romania doubled. During the 1920s the country saw the birth of a number of antisemitic political parties.

A 1930 census recorded 728,115 Jews living in the country.

After the Nazis came to power in Germany, they encouraged right wing nationalist parties in other countries to foster anti-Jewish measures. In February 1938, King Carol II of Romania established an antisemitic dictatorship.

Throughout 1939 Romania developed close ties with Germany

In September 1940, the fascist General Ion Antonescu forced King Carol II to abdicate. Antonescu established a government that included members of the antisemitic Iron Guard. In November 1940, Romania joined the Axis alliance.

The Iron Guard led physical attacks against the Jews of Romania. In January 1941, anti-Jewish riots resulted in 127 deaths. Adolf Eichmann assisted the Romanian government in setting up a ‘National Romanianization Centre’ designed to exclude Jews from every aspect of Romanian life.

Collaboration

When, on 22 June 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union, the Romanian Army fought along side them.

The Romanian authorities collaborated with the Germans in the planned murder of the Jews. German and Romanian army units, carried out the extermination of 160,000 of Romania’s Jews. Local Romanians and Ukrainians assisted in the murders.

Collaboration

Very soon after Hitler came to power in Germany, the Hungarian government attempted to build an alliance with Nazi Germany. In March 1938, Hungary began to issue anti-Jewish legislation. Jews were systematically removed from the economy and were distinguished as a racial group. During 1939, all Jewish men of military age were forced to join the Hungarian Labour Service.

In September 1938, following the German annexation of the Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia, a portion of the area was given to Hungary in order to build relations between the two nations. Over the next three years, as Germany invaded and controlled countries surrounding Hungary, Germany gave Hungary possession of other lands. In 1941 the Hungarian Government passed a law defining who was Jewish and by March of the same year the Jewish population in Hungarian controlled land had reached in excess of 725,000.

Deportations

In June 1941, Hungary joined Germany in the war against the Soviet Union. After the German defeat at Stalingrad, the Hungarian government attempted to pull out of the alliance with Germany. During March 1944, German troops invaded Hungary. Hitler set up a new government faithful to Germany.

A Special unit under the orders of Adolf Eichmann, began implementing the “” within Hungary. Anti-Jewish decrees were passed. Judenraeteete were established across Hungary. A separate one was set up for Budapest, the capital.

Jews had to wear a Star of David and their movement was restricted. Telephones and radios were confiscated, whilst Jewish property and businesses were seized. During April the Jews of Hungary were forced into ghettos. Very soon, the Jews of each ghetto were put on trains and deported. Between 15 May and 9 July 1944, approximately 430,000 Hungarian Jews were deported, mainly to Auschwitz. The majority of them were gassed on arrival; many more died with the camp over the next few months.

By early July 1944, when the deportations were halted, apart from Budapest, the capital, Hungary was . Throughout the spring of 1944, the Relief and Rescue Committee of Budapest began negotiating with the SS to save lives. Many Jews were able to flee Hungary.

The Arrow Cross

Between July and October 1944, the Jews within Budapest lived in relative safety. However, when, on 15 October, the Hungarian government announced they were going to make peace with the Allies, the Germans toppled the government. They gave power to Ferenc Szalasi and his fascist, and antisemitic, Arrow Cross Party. The Arrow Cross began a reign of terror across the city. Almost 80,000 Jews were killed. Many victims were shot on the banks of the Danube River and their bodies thrown in the river. In addition, many thousands were forced on death marches to the Austrian border.

In December 1944, whilst the Soviet Army laid siege to Budapest, around 70,000 Jews were forced into a ghetto. Many thousands died of cold, disease, and starvation.

By the early 1940s many millions of Jews were living in territories under German control.

The experience of Jews in countries that were invaded and occupied by the Nazis was often quite similar to that of the Jews within Germany. However, what was different was the speed at which the Nazis enacted anti-Jewish measures. Watch the videos on this page to gain an understanding of life through the eyes of a Survivor.

Freddie

Freddie was an Austrian Jewish boy born in Vienna, Austria in 1921. In this video he talks about what happened when the Nazis marched into Vienna during early 1938. He also talks about what he witnessed on Kristallnacht, 9-10 November 1938.

Jack

In this video Jack remembers the German invasion of Novogrudek. Jack was only 12 years old, when the Nazis invaded, but remembers vividly how the Nazis established anti-Jewish laws. He also remembers the terrible atrocities committed by the Nazis and their accomplices.

Joan

In this video Joan talks about what happened to her family under Nazi occupation. Watch and learn how the family managed to move from Belgium to France.

What happened to Joan’s father?

Simon

In 1939 Radyviliv was invaded by the Soviet Union. Life didn’t change too much under the Russians. However, in 1941 the German army invaded the area. Life changed dramatically for the Jewish population.

Watch Simon’s testimony and learn what happened when the Nazis invaded.