Black Earth; Timothy Snyder; 2015,344 pgs; notes, bibliography, index

​Snyder also wrote Bloodlands which I have "reviewed".

This book deal with the geopolitical statehood issues that gave rise to the Holocaust. The book makes several points that are surprising. The main point is that being a member of a state was all important in the survival of Jewish people. If you were a German Jew, your chances of survival were far better than if you were a stateless Polish Jew...stateless because Germany and Russia destroyed the Polish state.

In Hitler's mind at the end of the war was the idea that the defeat of the Nazis was brought about by a worldwide Jewish plot and, if he had only ordered the gassing of a few thousand Jews at the start, Germany's victory would have been assured. Hitler said "A people that is rid of its Jews  returns spontaneously to the natural order." "Lebensraum" was a term Hitler liked. It meant both living space  for the German people and "living room",  as in a cozy room. Hitler's quest for lebensraum was justified by racial theories. Inferior races must be displaced (e.g.: the North American Indian population).

Poland had the lions share of Jews in Europe. Both Berlin and Warsaw supported the displacement of Jews from Europe… possibly to Madagascar or, more likely, Palestine.

Anschluss with Austria was desirable for Germany, mostly because Austria had a lot of money and Germany was in need. Austria took it out on their Jewish population. Humiliation, pain and flight had come to the Jewish people… the Holocaust had started. Neighbor states did not want them.

Jews were stripped of citizenship. Stateless Jews could be mistreated as one pleased... without consequence.

An invention of Hitler was the judeobolshevik plot. There was no such plot. If you were not a Jew, you were a bolshevik, and vice verse. Labels can be used for evil. The Baltic states used this to purge (kill or  deport)  all Jews by the end of 1941. The judeobolshevik  myth was used to kill Jews, with Soviet citizens help. This was done by the einsatzcommandos (special forces). Many people would spontaneously switch sides several times as the Soviets and the Germans exchanged territory.

Who knew? This is question that has troubled me. How many Germans knew about the mass killings of Jews? Snyder said: "It is possible that many Germans did not know what happened at Auschwitz. It is not possible that many Germans did not know about the mass murder of  Jews."  Many German families got rich stealing Jewish property.

Estonia and Denmark were much alike. Both occupied  by Germany; both Baltic states; each home to a small number of Jews, and each declared Judenfrei (free of Jews). But at the wars end, Estonia had the lowest percent of  Jewish survivors and Denmark the highest.

Denmark was maintained as a state. Estonia was not.  Denmark did not border the USSR. It was deemed that the Final Solution would not be acceptable to Denmark.  On October 2, 1943, the Germans captured 401 Danish Jews. They all survived the war.


Anti-Semitism  was baked into many countries. Romania adopted Germany's Jewish laws. France enacted anti-Semitic  laws and as educated Poles were being killed in Poland, educated Frenchmen were getting jobs in the civil service to track Jews in France.

Another cold fact: from July 1944 to June 1945, the US only admitted 4,705 Jews… roughly how many Jews were gassed at Treblinka on any given day.

Of course, there were tales of enormous heroism and bravery as well. The Bjelski brothers in Belarus (see the movie Defiance with Daniel Craig) for example. Raoul Wallenburg was the most effective rescuer of Jews. He died in a Soviet prison. The church was hard to find. Only one Christian Churchman of high rank (Andrei Sheptyts'kyi) acted to save Jews.

The Roman Catholic Church took no stand on the mass murder of Jews because they felt the Jews were responsible for kill Jesus.  

One of the major conclusions of the book is the need for a Jewish state, Statehood was the key to living through WWII as a Jew.

This book is a little dry, but hugely enlightening. It certainly changed my view of the politics of the day.  It also reinforced a  belief of mine, namely that religion poisons everything. 

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