Question About World War II (Nazi Germany & Holocaust)

[dwyanewadeog]

Had Nazi Germany not focused resources on the transportation and murder of European Jewry could they have won World War 2?
I am no WW2 history buff but am curious about this question.

It seems that Nazi Germany expended huge amounts of resources (soldiers, killing squads, railway lines, fuel, etc) to perpetrate the Holocuast. What would have happened had they not pursued this policy of liquidation?

 

[sillyputty]

Too many variables at play.


But at a very minimum reallocating resources does tend to led to markedly different results.

 

[moonman818]

Once the USA decided it was time to go in, it was a wrap.

 

[|A-Man|]

Hitler needed a scapegoat to rally all of the non-Jew Germans. He took it a bit far with killing them but then he had scientists experimenting with all of those prisoners in the numerous new ways they were killed. Plus saying a lie like that long enough created real hatred where they felt they had to do it. You got to keep in mind the plan was to end up doing this to everybody else not like them, worldwide culling. So he probably thought it was worth it.

Granted if he did not round up all those Jews and used them as part of the war instead at the least (lets say as kamikazes) it may have gone on longer but they lost because they overdid it with the blitzkrieg on London and the strategy on attacking Russia was INCREDIBLY STOOPID. Really stupid. They would've been better off nuking Russia than what they ended up doing.

 

[biggie62]

If hitler never attacked Russia until he built the atomic bomb and focused more resources to its development, then I think there's a good chance that they could have won.

 

[crcballer55]

Had the U.S. not fought a 2 front war, could it have won WWII?

 

[vendetta]

Like Sillyputty said there are too many variables to say. ATGD touched on what I think is an important idea. In order to gain the support and rally the non-Jewish Germans to his cause he used the Jews as a scapegoat for all of Germany's economic woes. The cost of running and executing the Holocuast was undoubtedly taxing on the German military but you have to ask yourself what's the price of fanaticism? The non-Jewish Germans rallied behind the Nazi party and over time became indoctrinated into the system. Just like 9/11 brought the American people together, the hate surrounding Jews gave Germans a sense of nationalism and this, as you know, can be very dangerous.

Running low on time so I can't finish all my thoughts but one other thing to keep in mind.

Jews weren't subjected to simple execution. The German economy and military were propelled by internment (slave labor) camps that had Jews producing amunition, clothing and other war goods. There's no way to tell but were the resources Germany put into the Holocaust balanced out by the goods produced by Jews in internment camps?

 

[bandit country]

Originally Posted by Vendetta

Just like 9/11 brought the American
Jews weren't subjected to simple execution. The German economy and military were propelled by internment (slave labor) camps that had Jews producing amunition, clothing and other war goods. There's no way to tell but were the resources Germany put into the Holocaust balanced out by the goods produced by Jews in internment camps?

 @ your first point.

But I'd like someone with a history background to answer the second point.

  

 

[thenewjs23]

They lost trying to fight two fronts. No one not even the US has mastered that. Luckily WW2 brought us out of the great depression.

 

[zapatohead408]

calling Rayray3000 (I think thats his screenname?)

Yea, they could have won. Fighting on two fronts definitely weakened them.

 

[big j 33]

It's important to understand how you define the Holocaust. If you meant the total genocide of Jews, POWs, ethnic non-Germans, homosexuals, disables, gypsies, etc. that occurred in Europe at the hands of the Nazis... or if you mean death camps in particular. Because there were concentration work camps which provided supplies and goods for the war effort, then there was death camps with only one purpose, to kill. Then you have various other means of annihilation, death squads that would go to towns and wipe them out, you had the death marches when the camps were closed down as Germany was losing the war, starvation and death in the ghettos, and other means as well.

There were instances of the Nazis transporting people hundreds of miles from their homes to death camps, just to kill them. Certainly, in those instances had they not be interested in annhilation, the resources and manpower could have been better used in the war.

There was also a constant tension and battle over how to use the concentration camps, annihilation or exploitation. Exploitation allowed the prisoners to be used for production and aid the war effort, but keep in mind these people were malnourished, exhausted, scared, and then they're forced to work. So camps would struggle with production at times because the workers were too weak. In the early stages, the Nazis simply wanted the Jews out of Germany, they didn't care what happened to them... just for them to leave. Eventually came the forced relocation to the ghettos, then the camps, etc.

A majority of the deaths during that time occurred over a brief period, roughly a year, with Operation Reinhard (the construction of death camps with one purpose of killing). By the time that was occurring, the Germans invading Russia and as a result, fighting a two-front war and stretching themselves far too thin.

Certainly, the plan to annihilate didn't benefit their war efforts and most likely hurt because they didn't use those people for work in the other camps. Hitler still could have achieved his power prior to the war without killing on the massive scale he did. Blaming the Jews was important but other factors played a role too (fixing the economy and essentially curing unemployment, territorial conquests, ignoring the Treaty of Versailles, etc.). I'd say their decision to go after Russia played a much bigger role in their defeat. Although it's hard to separate the two, as Hitler saw Russia as an enemy in an ideological sense, he saw them representing Jewish Bolshevism and it was a war between the Nazis against a far greater enemy.

Source: History major and I've taken a class specifically on the Holocaust taught by a well-known historian in the area.