*Madagascar Plan - Germany WWII
Published by Campbell M Gold in Historical · Saturday 31 Aug 2024
Tags: Madagascar, Plan, Germany, WWII, Nazi, regime, Jewish, population, Europe, Madagascar, proposal, relocation, controversial.
Tags: Madagascar, Plan, Germany, WWII, Nazi, regime, Jewish, population, Europe, Madagascar, proposal, relocation, controversial.
Madagascar Plan - Germany WWII
This material, filled with sensitive and controversial content, is presented here not to influence your opinions but to ignite your academic curiosity. The information and interpretations herein do not reflect any opinion of this editor or our clients. Instead, they invite you to delve into a contentious but crucial re-evaluation.
If you are happy with the Accepted History on this Subject
DO NOT READ FURTHER
With all the media hype about the now defunct "Rwanda Plan," my thoughts turned to the NAZI "Madagascar Plan"...
Introduction
The German Madagascar Plan was a proposal developed in the late 1930s by the Nazi regime to forcibly relocate the Jewish population of Europe to the island of Madagascar.
Historical Context
Rise of Nazism
- The Nazis, under Adolf Hitler, implemented increasingly severe anti-Semitic policies following their rise to power in 1933.
- The regime aimed to achieve a "racially pure" state, leading to the exclusion, persecution, and eventual deportation/extermination of Jews.
Early Solutions
- Before the implementation of the Final Solution, the Nazis considered various options for dealing with the Jewish population, including "Emigration."
Proposal
- The Madagascar Plan was considered in 1940 after the German invasion of France and their capitulation - Madagascar was a French colony.
- The plan suggested that Jews from Europe would be transported to Madagascar, which was then a French colony.
Logistics
- The plan proposed the establishment of a Jewish settlement on the island, where Jews would be forcibly relocated.
- It was estimated that about 4 million Jews could be deported to Madagascar.
Implementation Challenges
- The plan faced significant logistical challenges, including transporting millions of resistant people across the ocean and lacking local resources.
- The situation became increasingly untenable as the war progressed and Germany's military fortunes declined. The British Royal Navy blockade made the plan unworkable in the end.
Shift to the "Final Solution"
- By mid-1941, the Madagascar Plan was abandoned due to the deteriorating military situation and the failure to secure total control over the island.
- The Nazi regime shifted to the Final Solution, which was the systematic elimination of Jews in concentration and extermination camps.
Consequences
Impact on Jewish Communities
Conclusion
- The abandonment of the Madagascar Plan did not alleviate the suffering of Jewish communities; instead, it led to the Holocaust.
- Approximately 6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust between 1941 and 1945.
Legacy
- The Madagascar Plan reflects the extreme anti-Semitic ideology of the Nazis and their willingness to pursue drastic and brutal solutions to what they perceived as the "Jewish threat/question."
- It serves as a reminder of the dangers of totalitarianism, hatred, intolerance, and the consequences of systematic oppression.
The German Madagascar Plan illustrates the extent of Nazi anti-Semitic ideology and the drastic measures considered to address the perceived "Jewish Threat." Ultimately, the plan was a precursor to the horrific policies that led to the Holocaust as the Final Solution.
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Timeline
The Madagascar Plan reflected several re-settlement plans proposed for European Jews in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Paul de Lagarde, an Orientalist scholar, first suggested evacuating the European Jews to Madagascar in his 1878 work, Deutsche Schriften ("German Writings").
The Uganda Scheme
In 1904-1905, members of the Zionist movement engaged in serious debates about the "Uganda Scheme." This proposal aimed to resettle Russian Jews, who were facing immediate danger from ongoing pogroms in the Russian Empire, in the East Africa Protectorate (now Kenya), which was part of the British Empire at the time.
However, the Uganda Scheme was ultimately rejected as "unworkable" by the World *Zionist Congress.
Proponents of Jewish territorialism split from the main Zionist movement to search for a location to create their own state or autonomous area.
Madagascar
The idea of Jewish resettlement in Madagascar was promoted by British antisemites Henry Hamilton Beamish (founder of the British antisemitic society The Britons), Arnold Leese (founder of the Imperial Fascist League), and others.
In 1933, the Nazi party came to power and discrimination against Jews began to be coordinated. Additionally, violence and economic pressure were used to encourage Jews to leave the country voluntarily.
Poland Considered Madagascar in 1937
In 1937, with the cooperation of the French, the Polish Government commissioned a task force to examine the possibility of settling Polish Jews in Madagascar.
However, the head of the commission, Mieczysław Lepecki, felt the island could accommodate +/- 5000-7000 families; however, Jewish members of the group estimated that, because of the problematic climate and poor infrastructure, only +/- 500 families or less, could be accommodated. Consequently, the Madagascar idea was dropped.
On 09 December 1938, French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet informed German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop that to purge France of 10,000 Jewish refugees, it would be necessary to ship them elsewhere.
Additionally, as the efforts by the Nazi Government to encourage the emigration of the Jewish population of Germany before World War II were only partially successful, the idea of deporting Jews to Madagascar was again considered.
By 1939, +/- 250,000 of Germany's 437,000 Jews had emigrated to the United States, Argentina, Britain, and other countries, as well as to the British Mandate of Palestine - however, this movement was deemed too slow.
Additionally, at that time, the Nazi regime considered "Mass Emigration" to be the "Solution to The Jewish Problem."
Consequently, on 05 March 1938, the SS officer in charge of "Forced Jewish Emigration," Adolf Eichmann, was commissioned to assemble material to provide the chief of the Security Police (SIPO) Reinhard Heydrich with "a foreign policy solution as it had been negotiated between Poland and France," i.e., the Madagascar Plan.
Eichmann prepared a detailed report on the island of Madagascar and its "colonisation" possibilities based on information gathered from the French Colonial Office. He added an evacuation plan outlining four million Jews to be shipped to Madagascar over four years - he also recommended the creation of a "police reserve" as a giant ghetto. The plan was to be financed by a special bank exploiting confiscated Jewish property and by contributions exacted from world Jewry. In his report, Eichmann factored in that many Jews would succumb to the harsh tropical conditions, which would allow further numbers of deportees to be added.
The plan leaked out and was published in Italy in July 1940.
Temporarily slowed because of the war focus, the Madagascar Project picked up again after the fall of France in the summer of 1940.
In June 1940, Franz Rademacher, head of the Jewish Department of the German Foreign Office, recommended the relocation, by force, if necessary, of the Jewish population of Europe to the island of Madagascar - this was shortly before the capitulation of France on 22 June 1940.
Rademacher recommended that Germany cede control of Madagascar—at that time a French colony—as part of the final peace terms/settlement of the French capitulation.
Adolf Hitler approved the project, and on 15 August 1940. Eichmann was ordered to start and manage the resettlement of a million Jews per year for four years to Madagascar, which would be a police state managed by the SS.
On 15 August 1940, Rademacher presented a memorandum outlining the plan (commissioned 05 March 1938) to resettle the European Jews to the island of Madagascar.
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Text of the Rademacher Madagascar Memorandum - 03 Jul 1940
The approaching victory gives Germany the possibility, and in my view also the duty, of solving the Jewish question in Europe. The desirable solution is: all Jews out of Europe.
The task of the Foreign Ministry in this is:
a) To include this demand in the Peace Treaty and to insist on it also by means of separate negotiations with the European countries not involved in the Peace Treaty;b) to secure the territory necessary for the settlement of the Jews in the Peace Treaty, and to determine principles for the cooperation of the enemy countries in this problem;c) to determine the position under international law of the new Jewish overseas settlement;d) as preparatory measures:
1) clarification of the wishes and plans of the departments concerned of the Party, State and Research organisations in Germany, and the coordination of these plans with the wishes of the Reich Foreign Minister, including the following:2) preparation of a survey of the factual data available in various places (number of Jews in the various countries), use of their financial assets through an international bank;3) negotiations with our friend, Italy, on these matters.
With regard to beginning the preparatory work, Section D III has already approached the Reich Foreign Minister via the Department Germany [interior affairs], and has been instructed by him to start on the preparatory work without delay. There have already been discussions with the Office of the Reichsfuehrer SS in the Ministry of Interior and several departments of the Party. These departments approve the following plan of Section D III:
Section D III proposes as a solution of the Jewish question: In the Peace Treaty France must make the island of Madagascar available for the solution of the Jewish question, and to resettle and compensate the approximately 25,000 French citizens living there. The island will be transferred to Germany under a mandate. Diégo Suarez Bay and the port of Antsirane, which are [sea-] strategically important, will become German naval bases (if the Navy wishes, these naval bases could be extended also to the harbours – open road-steads – Tamatave, Andevorante, Mananjara, etc.). In addition to these naval bases, suitable areas of the country will be excluded from the Jewish territory (Judenterritorium) for the construction of air bases. That part of the island not required for military purposes will be placed under the administration of a German Police Governor, who will be under the administration of the Reichsfuehrer SS. Apart from this, the Jews will have their own administration in this territory: their own mayors, police, postal and railroad administration, etc. The Jews will be jointly liable for the value of the island. For this purpose their former European financial assets will be transferred for use to a European bank to be established for this purpose. Insofar as the assets are not sufficient to pay for the land which they will receive, and for the purchase of necessary commodities in Europe for the development of the island, the Jews will be able to receive bank credits from the same bank.
As Madagascar will only be a Mandate, the Jews living there will not acquire German citizenship. On the other hand, the Jews deported to Madagascar will lose their citizenship of European countries from the date of deportation. Instead, they will become residents of the Mandate of Madagascar.
This arrangement would prevent the possible establishment in Palestine by the Jews of a Vatican State of their own, and the opportunity for them to exploit for their own purposes the symbolic importance which Jerusalem has for the Christian and Mohammedan parts of the world. Moreover, the Jews will remain in German hands as a pledge for the future good behaviour of the members of their race in America.
Use can be made for propaganda purposes of the generosity shown by Germany in permitting cultural, economic, administrative and legal self-administration to the Jews; it can be emphasised at the same time that our German sense of responsibility towards the world forbids us to make the gift of a sovereign state to a race which has had no independent state for thousands of years: this would still require the test of history.
signed Rademacher
Berlin, July 3, 1940(Yad Vashem; Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2008 The Gale Group)
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Madagascar Endorsed
In August 1940, the Third Reich officially endorsed the Madagascar Plan.
In February 1941, Hitler discussed the progress of the Madagascar plan at a conference with Goebbels, Bormann, Himmler, and Heydrich.
Alarmed by the plan's development, the American Jewish Committee commissioned a special report, published in May 1941, that sought to demonstrate that Jews could not survive the conditions on the island.
"Madagascar Plan" changed to "Evacuation to the East."
On 10 February 1942, a few weeks after the Wannsee Conference (20 January 1942), the designation "Madagascar Plan" was replaced in public policy statements with: "Evacuation to the East." This is an excellent example of political doublespeak.
In the end, The Madagascar plan was never implemented because of the British naval blockade, which prevented any transportation of the deportees.
Detailed Summary
In 1940, Franz Rademacher, head of the Jewish Department of the German Foreign Office, developed the idea of deporting the remaining German Jews overseas. Barren, unproductive lands were viewed as appropriate destinations as this would prevent the deportees from flourishing in their new location.
In his May 1940 memorandum to Hitler, Concerning the Treatment of the Alien Population in the East, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler declared that he hoped to see "the term 'Jew' completely eliminated through the massive immigration of all Jews to Africa or some other colony".
Madagascar Recommended
Rademacher recommended on 3 June 1940 that Madagascar should be made available as a destination for the Jews of Europe.
With Adolf Hitler's approval, Adolf Eichmann released a memorandum on 15 August 1940 outlining the resettlement of a million Jews per year for four years, with Madagascar being governed as a police state under the control of the SS.
However, the plan was not viable because of the British naval blockade. Consequently, it was put on hold and then permanently shelved in 1942.
The Beginning
In 1938, initial discussions began among Nazi leaders such as Julius Streicher, Hermann Göring, Alfred Rosenberg, and Joachim von Ribbentrop regarding the treatment of Jews. At that time, +/- 10 per cent of Jews under German jurisdiction were Polish nationals.
The Polish ambassador to Germany, Józef Lipski, expressed Poland's refusal to take back Polish Jews, and the Polish government decreed that Polish passport holders would not be allowed to return except under specific conditions.
When Ribbentrop discussed the matter with French foreign minister Georges Bonnet in December 1938, Bonnet expressed French reluctance to receive more German Jews and outlined measures to prevent their arrival. Meanwhile, France was considering how to deport around 10,000 Jews and explored the possibility of using Madagascar as a destination.
Consequently, planning for German deportations to Madagascar began in 1940.
On 03 July 1940, Franz Rademacher, the newly appointed head of the Jewish Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, submitted a memorandum to his superior, the diplomat Martin Luther.
In his planning, Rademacher expressed the desire to remove all Jews from Europe. He briefly considered Palestine as a destination but deemed it unsuitable because he did not want a strong Jewish state to be created in the Middle East. Furthermore, Palestine was under British control at that time.
Rademacher proposed that the French colony of Madagascar be considered a destination for European Jews as part of the French capitulation terms of 22 June 1940. He also suggested that the relocated Jews could be used as hostages to guarantee the "future good behaviour" of their fellow Jews in America. Referat D III of the Abteilung Deutschland developed the plan.
Luther broached the subject with Foreign Minister Ribbentrop, who was simultaneously developing a similar scheme. By 18 June 1940, Hitler and Ribbentrop spoke of the Plan with Italian leader Benito Mussolini as a possibility to pursue after France's defeat (22 June 1940).
Once he learned of the plan, SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, chief of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), insisted that Ribbentrop relinquish any future responsibility for the Plan to that office.
Göring appointed Heydrich in January 1939 to oversee "Jewish evacuation from German-occupied territory." Thus, the solution to the Jewish question was now under Heydrich's purview. Adolf Eichmann, head of the RSHA Sub-Department IV-B4, which dealt with Jewish Affairs and Evacuation, was commissioned to assemble material to provide Heydrich with "a foreign policy solution as it had been negotiated between Poland and France," i.e., the Madagascar Plan.
On 15 August 1949, Eichmann released a memorandum titled Reich Security Main Office: Madagascar Project outlining the resettlement of a million Jews per year for four years and abandoning the idea of retaining any Jews in Europe. The RSHA, he emphasised, would manage all aspects of the program.
While Rademacher called for the colony to be under German control but self-governing under Jewish administration, Eichmann made it clear that the SS would control and oversee every aspect of life on the island, which would be governed as a police state.
France capitulated on 22 June 1940
The Nazi bureaus, including the Foreign Office, the Security Police, and the General Government (the occupied portion of Poland), pinned their hopes on the Madagascar Plan as the last chance to "solve the Jewish problem through emigration."
In particular, Hans Frank, governor of the General Government (German Occupied Poland), viewed the resettlement to Madagascar as preferable to the piecemeal efforts at deportation into Poland.
As of 10 July 1940, deportations into Poland were suspended, and construction of the Warsaw Ghetto was halted since it now appeared to be unnecessary.
Plan Develops
Rademacher envisioned the founding of a European bank that would ultimately liquidate all European Jewish assets to pay for the plan. This bank would then play an intermediary role between Madagascar and the rest of the world, as Jews would not be allowed to interact financially with outsiders. Göring's office of the Four-Year Plan would oversee the administration of the plan's economics.
Rademacher indicated that other government agencies would also have roles in the plan. Ribbentrop's Foreign Affairs Ministry would negotiate terms with the French for the handover of Madagascar to Germany and would be involved in crafting treaties related to Europe's Jews. The Information Department of this ministry, in collaboration with Joseph Goebbels and his Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, would control the flow of information domestically and internationally.
Viktor Brack, a division chief in the Chancellery of the Führer, would be responsible for transportation.
The SS would be tasked with expelling the Jews from Europe and governing Madagascar as a police state.
The Nazis anticipated that, following the invasion of the United Kingdom in Operation Sea Lion, they would use the British merchant fleet to transport the Jews to Madagascar. They also expected that many deportees would perish due to harsh conditions or at the hands of the SS.
Plan Dropped
On 17 September 1940, after the Battle of Britain, the proposed invasion of the UK was postponed indefinitely. This meant that the British merchant fleet would not be available for use in Jewish evacuations, and planning for the Madagascar proposal stopped.
In late August 1940, Rademacher asked Ribbentrop to hold a meeting at his ministry to start assembling a panel of experts to solidify the plan, but Ribbentrop never responded.
Likewise, Eichmann's memorandum remained with Heydrich, who never approved it.
Consequently, establishing ghettos in Warsaw and other cities in Poland resumed in August 1940. The Foreign Office officially put the Madagascar plan on hold in February 1942.
British forces captured the island from Vichy, France, in the Battle of Madagascar in November 1942, and control was transferred to the Free French.
Once the planning for Operation Barbarossa began, Hitler asked Himmler to create a new plan for the displacement of the Jews in Europe. Himmler then delegated the task to Heydrich.
Heydrich proposed the deportation of the Jews to the Soviet Union via Poland.
The later General Plan for the East (Generalplan Ost), prepared by Professor Konrad Meyer and others, called for deporting the entire population of occupied Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union to Siberia, either for use as slave labour or to be eliminated after the Soviet defeat.
The plan relied on the rapid defeat of the Soviet forces. When it became clear that the war against the Soviet Union would last much longer than expected, Heydrich revised his plans to focus on the Jewish population under Nazi control at that time.
Since transporting masses of people into a combat zone would be impossible, Heydrich decided that the Jews would be transported to concentration/extermination camps in occupied areas of Poland.
The total number of Jews killed during the resulting Holocaust is estimated at 5.5 to 6 million people.
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Notes
* What is the Zionist Movement?
The Zionist Movement is a political and nationalist movement that originated in the late 19th century with the primary objective of establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
Below is a brief overview of the movement:
Historical Background
- Emergence: The movement arose in response to widespread anti-Semitism and discrimination faced by Jews in Europe, particularly in Eastern Europe.
- Key Figure: Theodor Herzl is often called the father of modern Zionism (1st Congress held 1897), advocating for establishing a Jewish state.
Goals of the Movement
- Jewish State: The central aim was to create a sovereign Jewish state in Palestine, viewed as essential for the survival and cultural revival of the Jewish people.
- Cultural Revival: The movement also promoted Hebrew language and culture, fostering a sense of Jewish identity.
Key Developments
1. First Zionist Congress (1897):
- Organised by Herzl in Basel, Switzerland.
- Established the World Zionist Organisation to promote the goals of Zionism.
2. Balfour Declaration (1917):
- A statement from the British government expressing support for establishing a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine.
3. British Mandate for Palestine (1920-1948):
- Following World War I, Britain governed Palestine, leading to increased Jewish immigration to the region
Impact and Controversy
- Arab-Jewish Tensions: The Zionist movement led to conflicts with the Arab population in Palestine, who opposed the establishment of a Jewish state.
- Creation of Israel: The movement culminated in the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, after the end of the British Mandate and the UN's Partition Plan.
Modern Zionism
- Diverse Ideologies: Contemporary Zionism includes a range of ideologies, from secular to religious, and there are ongoing debates about the nature and future of Israel as a Jewish state.
Conclusion
The Zionist Movement has significantly impacted Jewish history and the political landscape of the Middle East, and it remains a subject of extensive discussion and analysis today.
End
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