Blogs Zion's Corner
Today, April 16, 2015, is Israel Holocaust Day. We all know about the Holocaust. We know how many Jews it murdered.
We believe the Holocaust is over. We think it ended seventy years ago.
. We believe it no longer cleanses Europe of Jews. We think it couldn’t happen again.
Think again. The Holocaust didn’t end.
In 1933, there were app 9.5 million Jews in Europe (“Jewish Population of Europe in 1933: Population Data by Country”, The Holocaust Encyclopedia, The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, updated June 20, 2014). By the end of World War Two, the Holocaust killed enough Jews to drop the Jewish population in Europe to 3.5 million (“Jewish Population of Europe in 1945”, ibid).
Since World War Two, Europe’s population has grown dramatically. Europe’s devastated population centers have rebuilt. Since 1945, the total population of Europe has increased perhaps 50 per cent—even accounting for the millions killed in World War Two.
But Europe’s Jewish populations have not rebuilt. There has been no such post-war resurgence for Jews in Europe.
The post-war history of Europe's Jewish population change is shocking. To understand the horror of what continues to happen to Europe’s Jews, look at how some Jewish population centers in Europe have changed (the numbers come from the Holocaust History and Memorial Museum and the Jewish Virtual Library):
1. Poland, 1933: Jewish population: 3.2 million.
2014: Jewish population: 3,200 net change: minus 99 percent
2. Hungary, 1933: Jewish population: 445,000
2014: Jewish population: 47,900 net change: minus 89 percent
3. Austria, 1933: Jewish population: 250,000
2014: Jewish population: 9,000 net change: minus 96 percent
4.Romania, 1933: Jewish population: 757,000
2014: Jewish population: 9,400 net change: minus 98 percent
5. Bulgaria: 1933: Jewish population: 50,000
2014: Jewish population:2,000 net change: minus 96 percent
6. Lithuania, 1933: Jewish population: 155,000
2014; Jewish population: 2,000 net change: minus 98 percent
7.Latvia, 1933: Jewish population: 95,600
2014; Jewish population:5,600 net change: minus 94 percent
8. Czechoslovakia: 1933: Jewish population: 357,000
modern Czech Republic/Slovakia: 2014:6,500 net change: minus 98 per cent
9. Yugoslavia: 1933: Jewish population: 68,000
(Yugoslavia today is Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovenia) 2014: 3,300; minus 95 percent
Total numbers of Jews in these European countries: 1933: 5,377,600 2014: 88,900 net change: minus 98 percent
The Holocaust wiped out most of Europe’s Jews. But following World War Two, Jewish population numbers continued to plummet. For example, during the forty-five year period, 1945-1990, the number of Jews in Europe fell 34 per cent, from 3.5 million after the War to 2.3 million.
But that wasn’t the worst Jewish population drop after 1945. During the 25-year period, 1990-2014, the number of Jews fell another 39 per cent.
The numbers are astounding. The destruction of Europe’s Jews hasn’t ended. It’s begun to accelerate.
The Holocaust didn’t end in 1945.
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