Tram with sign "Forbidden for Jews“, Belgrad, 1941/42

What was the situation like in other countries in Europe?

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The photos on this screen show the violence against Jews outside Germany. After all, nationalists and anti-Semites could also be found beyond Germany’s borders as well. In many of the occupied countries in Europe, for a range of motives, people actively supported the German forces. In the face of war and occupation, others viewed the crimes with indifference – above all those against Jews – while being quite happy to profit from the possessions of the people deported.

Nonetheless, the situation was not the same everywhere. The occupying forces were especially brutal in those countries to the east of the German Reich – for instance, Poland and the Belarussian and Ukrainian parts of the Soviet Union, all home to large Jewish minorities. In the face of that brutality, people there had fewer chances to escape their own persecution or protect those persecuted. That was often more possible in countries to the west of Germany, since here there were far fewer people with a Jewish background and the occupying forces were comparatively less brutal in their approach. But even there, as some of these photos easily show, the German occupiers found enough members of the population ready to help.