Language:
English
Year of publication:
2008
Titel der Quelle:
War in History
Angaben zur Quelle:
15,1 (2008) 72-91
Keywords:
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
Jews
;
Jews
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Economic aspects
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
Jews Food
Abstract:
Some historians ascribe German decisions in 1941-42 to murder Jewish populations in occupied areas of the USSR to a desire to eliminate the Jews as "surplus mouths" in light of conditions of food shortages. Some official statements by Wehrmacht officers on this issue seem to confirm this hypothesis. Examines the food situation in German-occupied Crimea in 1941-42 and in the North Caucasus in 1942, concluding that the Germans found the food situation satisfactory when they entered these areas. In Crimea, the food situation deteriorated in the course of time; however, the Germans perceived it as being worse than it really was. In North Caucasus, the food situation was relatively good during the entire brief period of German occupation. Thus, while in the Crimea the Germans' subjective perception of the food situation as catastrophic could have accelerated the killing of Jews, in North Caucasus considerations of food shortages could not be and were not put forward as justification for the murder of Jews.
DOI:
10.1177/0968344507083994
URL:
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