World War II was caused by hatred of Jews, preeminent Holocaust scholar says

Professor Yehuda Bauer attends an award ceremony for the “EMET Prize” for excellence in academic and professional achievements in the arts, science and culture, 2016.

Raphael Ahren writes in Times of Israel, “World War II and the enormous catastrophe it brought upon mankind occurred “probably mainly” because of anti-Semitism, according to Israel’s preeminent Holocaust scholar. Indeed, Adolf Hitler launched the war to a large extent to prevent “world Jewry” from physically annihilating the German nation, Yehuda Bauer said. “Anti-Semitism is a cancer that eats the world, and World War II is proof of that,” he told The Times of Israel during an hour-long interview in Jerusalem last week.”

“Bauer, 93, will deliver the keynote address at a festive dinner for about 45 leaders from across the world Wednesday evening at President Reuven Rivlin’s residence that will kick off this year’s World Holocaust Forum. The event marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. (The only two other speakers at the dinner will be Rivlin himself and the king of Spain.)”

“At the event, Bauer will speak about a secret memorandum Hitler wrote to Hermann Goering in August 1936, in which he spoke about the need for Germany to be ready for war within four years. Otherwise, Hitler argued, Jewish Bolshevism will “replace” the German nation. “For a victory of Bolshevism over Germany would not lead to a Versailles Treaty but to the final destruction, indeed to the annihilation, of the German people,” Hitler wrote.”…

“The history of Holocaust complicity is very complicated, the nonagenarian historian acknowledged. While it’s an undeniable fact that many Polish Jews were killed by their non-Jewish compatriots, “there were some tremendous heroes” who not only fought against the Nazis but against their fellow countrymen who threatened to denounce anyone who attempted to rescue Jews.”

Adolf Hitler, front, salutes parading troops of the German Wehrmacht in Warsaw, Poland, on October 5, 1939 after the German invasion. 

“Reflecting on the current global rise in anti-Semitism, Bauer noted that hatred of Jews has existed since Hellenistic times, though he stressed that it’s limited to monotheistic societies. “There’s no anti-Semitism in China or in India, only a kind of positive anti-Semitism — the idea that Jews are very important and that we want to have good relations with them,” he said.”

“The Jew-hatred that exists today in the West combines the “classic anti-Semitism,” which has been around for a very long time, with a new political phenomenon that has to do with declining birth rates across the developed world, according to Bauer. “That creates a necessity for immigration,” he argued. “The population is aging, and if you want to keep up your standard of living you need somebody to work for you, so you need immigration.” (more…)