Judenfrei

Judenfrei (German: [ˈjuːdn̩ˌfʁaɪ], "free of Jews") and judenrein (German: [ˈjuːdn̩ˌʁaɪn], "clean of Jews") are terms of Nazi origin to designate an area that has been "cleansed" of Jews during The Holocaust.^[1] While judenfrei refers merely to "freeing" an area of all of its Jewish inhabitants, the term judenrein (literally "clean of Jews") has the even stronger connotation that any trace of Jewish blood had been removed as an alleged impurity in the minds of the criminal perpetrators.

Following the defeat of Germany in 1945, some attempts have been made to attract Jewish people back to Germany, as well as reconstruct synagogues destroyed during and after Kristallnacht. The terms judenrein and judenfrei have since been used in the persecution of global Jewish communities or the nation of Israel.

Locations declared judenfrei

Establishments, villages, cities, and regions were declared judenfrei or judenrein after they were apparently cleared of Jews. However, some Jewish people survived by being hidden and sheltered by friendly neighbours. In Berlin, they were known as "submariners" since they seemed to have disappeared (under the waves). Many survived the end of the war, hence becoming Holocaust survivors.

• Gelnhausen, Germany and Calw, Germany – reported judenfrei on November 1, 1938, by propaganda newspaper Kinzigwacht after their synagogues were closed and remaining local Jews forced to leave the towns.^[3]
• German-occupied Bydgoszcz (Poland) – reported judenfrei in December 1939.^{[citation needed]}
• German-annexed Alsace – reported judenrein by Robert Heinrich Wagner in July 1940.^[4]
• Banat, German-occupied territory of Serbia – reported judenfrei on 19 August 1941 in Völkische Beobachter (lit. People's Observer).^[5] On 20 August 1941 Banat was declared judenfrei by its German administrators.^[6]
• German-occupied Luxembourg – reported judenfrei by the press on October 17, 1941.^[7]
• German-occupied Estonia – December 1941.^[8] Reported as judenfrei at the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942.^[9]
• NDH.^{[11][12]: 107} German diplomat Siegfried Kasche pronounced Croatia judenfrei in a message to Berlin on 18 April 1944, stating that "Croatia is one of the countries in which the Jewish problem has been solved".^[13][14]
• German-occupied territory of Serbia / Belgrade – May 1942, reported in the SS-Standartenführer Emanuel Schäfer cable sent to the Reich Security Main Office in Berlin; Schäfer was the Der Befehlshaber der SIPO und des SD head at that time in Belgrade,^{[15][16][17][18]} while in June 1942 he reported to his supervisors that "Serbien ist Judenfrei" (lit. "Serbia is free of Jews").^[12]: 3 In August 1942, Harald Turner reported to the German commander in the Balkans that Serbia was the first European territory where the "Jewish problem" was solved.^{[19][20]: 118}
• Vienna – reported judenfrei by Alois Brunner on October 9, 1942.
• Berlin, Germany – May 19, 1943.^[21]
• Erlangen, Germany was declared judenfrei in 1944.

Modern usage

Israeli–Palestinian conflict

In the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, a fear among many Israelis which has been reflected by Israeli government officials such as Benjamin Netanyahu is that the proposed removal of Israeli Jewish settlements in the West Bank according to the wishes of Palestinian officials is tantamount to rendering these areas judenrein, or clean of Jews.

On July 9, 2009, Benjamin Netanyahu, in a discussion with the German foreign minister

The depopulation of the Jewish communities from Arab and Muslim countries of the Middle East and North Africa was described as the result of an effort to make these countries judenrein or judenfrei. Dr. Peter Schotten wrote on the matter, saying "Arab states responded ruthlessly to the lost war and to the newly displaced Arab refugees by undertaking systematic and bold oppressive measures against their Jewish citizens. Their citizenship was stripped, arrests and detentions took place, religious restrictions were imposed, freedom of movement was curtailed, assets were frozen and property seized, employment opportunities were closed off and Zionism was criminalized."^[24] Lyn Julius wrote in the Jewish Journal, "Only three years after the end of World War II, the members of the Arab League were bent on emulating the Nazis. They set about making the Arab Middle East judenrein (free of Jews). They applied Nuremberg-style laws, criminalizing Zionism, freezing Jewish bank accounts, instituting quotas, imposing restrictions on jobs and movement. The result was the mass exodus and spoliation of a million Jews."^[25]

Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Kuwait, Oman, Libya, Sudan, and Malaysia^[26] are believed to have no remaining Jewish population. ^{[citation needed]}

Afghanistan is believed to have no Jewish population left, after the last two known remaining Jews, Zablon Simintov and his cousin Tova Moradi left in September and October 2021.^[27] Before the 2021 Taliban resurgence, Zablon maintained and cared for Afghanistan's only synagogue in the capital of Kabul.^[28]

Asmara, Eritrea, is believed to have a single native Jewish resident left: Sami Cohen, who runs an import-export business and attends to the Asmara Synagogue.^[29][30]

On July 13, 2020, it was reported that the last Jews in

In Egypt, it is estimated the country has 3 known Jews remaining as of 2021.[34]

In Iraq, it is estimated the country has 3-4 known Jews remaining as of 2021^[33]

Turkey (15,000 in 2021),^[35] Iran (8,500 in 2021), Morocco (2,100 in 2021), Tunisia (1,000 in 2021), Armenia (300-500), Algeria (200 in 2021),^[36] Ethiopia (100 in 2021),^[37] and Lebanon (29 in 2021) have also seen huge declines in Jewish population. Officially, there are no Jews in Kurdistan;^[38][39] however, the sending of Hanukkah kits to Jews to Arab countries and regions, including Kurdistan,^[40] indicate there may be Jewish remnants there.

See also

• Armenia without Armenians
• History of the Jews in Germany

References