Polish-Jewish Relations: 1,300 Keyword-Phrase-Indexed Book Reviews (by Jan Peczkis)

The Emergence of Jewish Ghettos During the Holocaust, by Dan Michman. 2011. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York

Not Only Jewish Final Solution: Nazi Final Solution for Christianity Too!

We always hear about a Nazi Final Solution to the Jewish Problem, as if the Nazis had radical exterminatory measures directed only at Jews. We never hear about an impending Nazi Final Solution for Christianity. Citing a German-language source, Michman comments, “But ‘final solutions’ WERE NOT LIMITED TO THE JEWS. In September 1941, just when the Final Solution of the Jewish Question was being crystallized, SS officials were also saying that ‘out final goal is the elimination, with nothing left, of Christendom in its entirety’.” The Nazi vision of Europe, too, was of a radically new order (Neuordnung), to be imposed unilaterally by Germany; the Generalplan Ost (general plan for the East) was devised to implement this new order in Eastern Europe. All these examples–and many others could be provided–indicate that the apocalyptic worldview preached by Hitler was totally different from old ways of thinking, both anti-Semitic and racist.” (pp. 159-160. Emphasis added).

A Final Solution for Christianity! In other words, German Nazism was not just radical anti-Semitism. It was also radical anti-Slavism and radical anti-Christianity.

THE HOLOCAUST BEGAN AUGUST 1941 (AFTER JEDWABNE)

Michman writes, “…the first step in a series of decisions was apparently taken in mid-July 1941. The ideas expressed by Hitler during a policymaking meeting with Goering, Rosenberg, Lammers, Bormann, and Keitel on July 16 [1941], together with Hitler’s signing of a series of orders the next day, signaled that shift. Its results could be seen in the change in the modalities of murder in the East from the beginning of August [1941] (first applied in the Baltic states): from killing mostly males to murdering women and children as well, and from multiple but still scattered massacres to the systematic cleansing of entire areas.” (p. 158).

Although the Jedwabne massacre (done July 10, 1941) is effortlessly folded into the Holocaust, it was not part of the Holocaust! It is high time that the media stop lying about it.

JEWISH GHETTOS WERE NOT TOP-DOWN, WERE FAR FROM UNIVERSAL, AND WERE NOT A “STAGE” IN THE EVENTUAL HOLOCAUST

Mainstream Holocaust historian Dan Michman demolishes some Holocaust icons and engages in revisionism of sorts. He thus introduces the subject of Jewish ghettos, “The conspicuous fact is that ghettos were not established in Western Europe or in the Greater Reich.” (p. 95). In other words, “…the term ‘ghettoization’ came to refer to all processes to isolate the Jews.” (pp. 90-91). Thus, “But the process of isolating the Jews began in Germany at the very start of the Nazi regime in 1933 and became a fundamental element of German policy and legislation in all occupied countries. In and of itself it did not require that the Jews actually be concentrated in certain locations.” (p. 91. Emphasis added).

Jewish ghettos were never a top-down policy: To the contrary. Michman writes, “…the central authorities of Nazi Germany never elaborated a clear and unequivocal definition of what a ghetto was or should be (from their point of view).” (p. 3). Local Nazi officials gave numerous and conflicting reasons for isolating the Jews, which proves that there was no grand plan for them. (p. 85). Nor were ghettos a “stage of the Holocaust” (p. 85), as isolating the Jews was an end in itself, and the Holocaust was not even decided upon when the ghettos were set up.

Referring to German-occupied Poland, Michman comments, “Was ghettoization in occupied Poland systematic and complete? The answer, as we have seen, is a categorical negative. Most of the ghettos–numerically speaking–were established in 1941 and 1942; in dozens of localities–chiefly towns and villages with small or moderate-sized Jewish populations (up to approximately 15,000 Jews)–the Jews continued to live in their homes as before and no ghetto was ever established (although a Judenrat was frequently, if not always, set up).” (p. 87). In Romania, “Here ‘ghettos’ meant concentrations of Jews in defined residential areas in the major cities, but without walls or fences.” (p. 131).

Ironically, one of the reasons given, in German documents, for isolating Poland’s Jews was to prevent Poles and Jews from uniting in resistance against the Nazi Germans. (p. 85; See also p. 107). Obviously, and contrary to the usual Holocaust narratives, the Germans did not think of Poles as willing to assist the Germans in the murder ot Jews. In the invaded Soviet Union, one of the reasons for isolating Jews was the threat of crypto-Jews: the tendency of Jews to disguise themselves as gentiles (as by having gentile names) and rule over the locals as Communist officials. (pp. 111-112).

GHETTOS AND JUDENRATS: NO CLEAR CONNECTION

Although the vast majority of ghettos had Judenrats, the two should not be conjoined. Not all ghettos has Judenrats, and not all “Judenrats” (Jewish self-governments) were associated with ghettos. (p. 152). For more on the Judenrats, see:

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2019/11/04/jewish-collaboration-double-standards-trunk/

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2025/07/16/judenrat-jewish-agency-remarkably-proven-here/