Judenfrei

{{Short description|Nazi term referring to areas that are "free/clean of Jews"}} {{use mdy dates|date=September 2016}} {{Italic title|reason=:Category:German words and phrases}} {{The Holocaust sidebar}} [[File:Die Katze lasst das Mausen nicht!.jpg|thumb|"Whoever wears this sign is an enemy of our people" – ''Parole der Woche'', 1 July 1942 showing a yellow badge used by the Nazis to identify Jews]] [[Image:Judenfrei Bydgoszcz synagoga.jpg|thumb|Synagogue in German-occupied Bydgoszcz, Poland, September 1939. The inscription in German reads: "This city is free of Jews!"]] [[Image:Map used to illustrate Stahlecker's report to Heydrich on January 31, 1942.jpg|thumb|German map showing the number of Jewish executions carried out by Einsatzgruppe A in: Estonia (declared ''judenfrei''), Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, and Russia]] [[File:Café_Pomona_(AK_Gebr._Metz_1930er_TPk187B.jpg|thumb|Advertisement for a café in Tübingen, describing itself as ''judenfrei'']] '''''Judenfrei''''' ({{IPA|de|ˈjuːdn̩ˌfʁaɪ|lang}}, "free of Jews") and '''''judenrein''''' ({{IPA|de|ˈjuːdn̩ˌʁaɪn|lang}}, "clean of Jews") are terms of Nazi origin to designate an area that has been "cleansed" of Jews during the Holocaust.<ref>{{cite book |title=Encyclopaedia Judaica |chapter=Judenrein |first1=Wolfgang |last1=Scheffler |chapter-url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/judenrein |date=2007 |edition=2nd |publisher=Thomson Gale}}</ref> 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 Nazis.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.shoaheducation.judahsglory.com/aryan.html |title=Aryanization: Judenrein & Judenfrei |work=shoaheducation.com |access-date=March 6, 2017 |archive-date=March 6, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170306135833/http://www.shoaheducation.judahsglory.com/aryan.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> These terms of racial discrimination and racial abuse are intrinsic to Nazi antisemitism and were used by the Nazis in Germany before World War II and in occupied countries such as Poland in 1939. ''Judenfrei'' describes the local Jewish population having been removed from a town, region, or country by forced evacuation during the Holocaust, though many Jews were hidden by local people. Removal methods included forced re-housing in Nazi ghettos especially in eastern Europe, and forced removal or resettlement to the East by German troops, often to their deaths. Most Jews were identified from late 1941 by the yellow badge as a result of pressure from Joseph Goebbels and Heinrich Himmler.

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.

==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.<ref>{{cite web |title='Gelnhausen endlich judenfrei': Zur Geschichte der Juden während der Nationalsozialistischen Verfolgung |language=de |trans-title='Gelnhausen finally free of Jews': On the History of the Jews during the Nazi persecution |url=http://www.gelnhausen.de/PDFDat/dauerausst_synagoge.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928160220/http://www.gelnhausen.de/PDFDat/dauerausst_synagoge.pdf |archive-date=September 28, 2007}}</ref> * German-occupied Bydgoszcz (Poland) – reported ''judenfrei'' in December 1939. <ref>https://www.jta.org/archive/polish-city-subjected-to-ruthless-germanization</ref> * German-annexed Alsace – reported ''judenrein'' by Robert Heinrich Wagner in July 1940.<ref name=Blumenkranz>{{cite book |title=Encyclopaedia Judaica |chapter=Alsace |first1=Bernhard |last1=Blumenkranz |first2=Moshe |last2=Catane |chapter-url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/alsace |date=2007 |edition=2 |publisher=Thomson Gale}}</ref> * Tuszyn, near Lodz, was declared ''judenfrei'' by March 1941. <ref>https://www.jta.org/archive/25000-warsaw-jews-at-work-on-river-project</ref> * The city of Kiev was declared ''judenrein'' on September 29, 1941. <ref>https://www.jta.org/archive/nazis-drive-jews-in-ukraine-to-unknown-destination-kiev-made-judenrein</ref> * Banat, German-occupied territory of Serbia – reported ''judenfrei'' on 19 August 1941 in ''Völkische Beobachter'' (lit. ''People's Observer'').<ref name="Drndić2009">{{cite book|last=Drndić|first=Daša|title=April u Berlinu|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OZxNAQAAMAAJ|year=2009|publisher=Fraktura|isbn=978-953-266-095-1|page=24|quote=Njemački list Völkische Beobachter objavio je 19. kolovoza 1941. da je Banat konačno Juden frei.}}</ref> On 20 August 1941 Banat was declared ''judenfrei'' by its German administrators.<ref name="Muth2009">{{cite book |last=Muth|first=Thorsten |title=Das Judentum: Geschichte und Kultur |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tcA-AQAAIAAJ |year=2009 |publisher=Pressel |isbn=978-3-937950-28-0 |page=452 |quote=Am 20. August konnte die deutsche Führung das Banat für Judenfrei" erklären.}}</ref> * German-occupied Luxembourg – reported ''judenfrei'' by the press on October 17, 1941.<ref>{{cite web |date=July 3, 2005 |url=http://www.gouvernement.lu/salle_presse/actualite/2005/07/03asselborn_shoah/index.html |title=Commémoration de la Shoah au Luxembourg |trans-title=Commemoration of the Shoah in Luxembourg |publisher=Government of Luxembourg |language=fr |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930055730/http://www.gouvernement.lu/salle_presse/actualite/2005/07/03asselborn_shoah/index.html |archive-date=September 30, 2007}}</ref> * German-occupied Estonia – December 1941.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/einsatzArep.htm |title=Extract from Report by Einsatzgruppe A |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071112165947/http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/einsatzArep.htm |archive-date=November 12, 2007}} Partial Translation of Document 2273-PS Source: Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, Vol. IV. USGPO, Washington, 1946, pp. 944–949</ref> Reported as ''judenfrei'' at the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942.<ref>{{cite web|title=Estonian Jews |publisher=Simon Wiesenthal Center |url=http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/text/x07/xr0707.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928003632/http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/text/x07/xr0707.html |archive-date=September 28, 2007 |url-status=dead }} sourced to {{cite encyclopedia |title=Encyclopedia of the Holocaust |year=1990 |publisher=Macmillan Publishing Company |location=New York}}</ref> * Bessarabia was declared ''judenrein'' in January 1942 by Romanian officials, <ref>https://www.jta.org/archive/bessarabia-is-judenrein-half-of-jewish-population-in-bukovina-removed</ref> although Nazi officials deemed Bessarabia ''judenrein'' in June 1942. <ref>https://www.jta.org/archive/bessarabia-completely-judenrein-nazis-boast-last-jew-expelled-from-kishinev</ref><ref>https://www.jta.org/archive/german-radio-confirms-bessarabia-judenrein-hails-great-accomplishment-of-antonescu</ref> * Independent State of Croatia – Declared ''judenfrei'' by Interior Minister Andrija Artuković in February 1942 but Germany suspected that this was not true and the authorities from Berlin sent Franz Abromeit to assess the situation. After that, the Ustaše were under pressure to finish the job. In April 1942 two hundred Jews from Osijek were deported to Jasenovac, while 2,800 were sent to Auschwitz.<ref>{{cite book|last=Subotić|first=Jelena|year=2019|title=Yellow Star, Red Star: Holocaust Remembrance after Communism|publisher=Cornell University Press|location=Ithaca, New York|isbn=978-1-50174-241-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dA2QDwAAQBAJ|page=106}}</ref> The Gestapo organized the deportation to Auschwitz of the last Croatian Jews in May 1943, 1,700 from Zagreb and 2,500 from other parts of the NDH.<ref>{{cite book | first=Milan | last=Bulajić | date=2002 | title=Jasenovac: the Jewish Serbian holocaust (the role of the Vatican) in Nazi-Ustasha Croatia (1941-1945) | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CgJnAAAAMAAJ&q=1700+May+1943+Zagreb+Auschwich | page=222| publisher=Fund for Genocide Research | isbn=9788641902211 }}</ref><ref name="YSRS">{{cite book | first=Jelena | last=Subotić | date=2019 | title=Yellow Star, Red Star: Holocaust Remembrance after Communism | publisher=Cornell University Press | isbn=9781501742415 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dA2QDwAAQBAJ&q=1700+were+from+Zagreb+Auschwich&pg=PA107}}</ref>{{rp|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".<ref>[http://www.porges.net/JewishHistoryOfYugoslavia.html Jewish History of Yugoslavia], porges.net; accessed 5 May 2016.</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.porges.net/JewishHistoryOfYugoslavia.html | title = Povijest Židova Jugoslavije | language = fr | publisher = Porges.net | access-date = 12 August 2015}}</ref> * The Polish city of Zgierz, near Lodz, was made ''judenrein'' in February 1942. <ref>https://www.jta.org/archive/all-jews-expelled-from-zgierz-nazis-introduce-ghetto-for-jews-in-rovno</ref> * 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,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lituchy|first1=Barry M.|title=Jasenovac and the Holocaust in Yugoslavia: analyses and survivor testimonies|year=2006|isbn=978-0-97534-320-3|publisher=Jasenovac Research Institute|pages=xxxiii}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Manoschek|first=Walter|title='Serbien ist judenfrei': militärische Besatzungspolitik und Judenvernichtung in Serbien 1941/42|isbn= 9783486561371|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|year=1995|page=184}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Lebel|first=G'eni|title=Until 'the Final Solution': The Jews in Belgrade 1521–1942|isbn= 9781886223332|publisher=Avotaynu|year=2007|page=329}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Herbert|first1=Ulrich|last2=Schildt|first2= Axel|title=Kriegsende in Europa|isbn= 9783884745113|publisher=Klartext|year=1998|page=149}}</ref> while in June 1942 he reported to his supervisors that ''"Serbien ist Judenfrei"'' (lit. "Serbia is free of Jews").<ref name="YSRS"/>{{rp|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.<ref>John K. Cox; (2002) ''The History of Serbia'' pp. 92–93; Greenwood, {{ISBN|0313312907}}</ref><ref name="Prusin">{{cite book | last = Prusin | first = Alexander | title = Serbia Under the Swastika: A World War II Occupation | year = 2017| publisher = University of Illinois Press| location = Urbana, Illinois | isbn = 978-0-252-09961-8 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Ud4nDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT46}}</ref>{{rp|118}} * In July 1942, Frankfurt was declared ''judenrein''. <ref>https://www.jta.org/archive/germans-inherit-300000-jewish-rooms-in-vienna-frankfurt-on-main-completely-judenrein</ref> * Vienna – reported ''judenfrei'' by Alois Brunner on October 9, 1942. * The Nazis deemed Sosnowiec, Poland to be ''judenrein'' in December 1942. <ref>https://www.jta.org/archive/nazi-press-reports-sosnowiec-is-judenrein-jews-slaughtered-in-rowno</ref> * In February 1943, the Czechoslovak Government-in-Exile reported that the last few remaining Jews had been deported by the Nazis from the Czech towns of Melnik and Mladá Boleslav rendering them ''judenrein''. <ref>https://www.jta.org/archive/three-towns-in-czech-protectorate-made-judenrein-by-the-nazis</ref> * In March 1943, the Polish city of Kowel was rendered ''judenrein''. <ref>https://www.jta.org/archive/kowel-made-judenrein-city-cleared-of-30000-jews-london-hears</ref> * Berlin, Germany – May 19, 1943.<ref>{{cite web |title=Was war am 19. Mai 1943 |language=de |trans-title=What was on May 19, 1943 |publisher=chroniknet |url=http://www.chroniknet.de/daly_de.0.html?year=1943&month=5&day=19 |access-date=October 20, 2008 |archive-date=March 5, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305014113/http://www.chroniknet.de/daly_de.0.html?year=1943&month=5&day=19 |url-status=dead }}</ref> * Erlangen, Germany was declared ''judenfrei'' in 1944.

==See also== {{Wiktionary}} * Armenia without Armenians * History of the Jews in Germany

== References == {{reflist}}

Category:Forced migrations during World War II Category:Holocaust terminology Category:Jews and Judaism in Europe Category:Nazi terminology Category:The Holocaust