As Israelis prepare for their annual Holocaust commemorations on Monday, one scholar has taken a different tack on the tragedy by estimating how many Jews might have been alive today were it not for the Nazi genocide.
According to demographer Sergio DellaPergola, the systematic slaughter of 6 million Jews during World War Two more than halved the potential global Jewish community in the long-run. Rather than numbering some 13 million now, there might have between 26 million and 32 million Jews, he says in an article to be published in the journal of the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.
“The Holocaust struck a deep blow to the demographic, cultural and social fabric of the Jewish people in many ways,” DellaPergola said in a statement issued by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he is professor of Israel-Diaspora relations.
DellaPergola speculated not only on the number of offspring that those who perished by the Nazis never had, but also how many Jews might have been “lost”, nominally, to low birthrates and intermarriage in Eastern Europe — the Ground Zero of the Holocaust.
Unmentioned in the Hebrew University statement is the possibility that the State of Israel might not have been set up were it not for the Holocaust, which mobilised world opinion behind the Jews’ quest for a sovereign haven. Israel is now home to 6 million Jews and a million Arab Muslims and Christians. Many demographers believe the country will soon have the majority of world Jewry given rates of assimilation in the diaspora.
Israelis mark Holocaust Remembrance Day by standing silently as sirens sound nationwide. Broadcasters air educational programmes and news media report on the conditions of Holocaust survivors in Israel.
This year’s events coincide with a United Nations conference on racism in Geneva, which Israel and a slew of Western powers are boycotting out of concern it could serve as an anti-Zionist platform.
Israelis are especially incensed by the attendance at the Geneva parley of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has questioned whether the Holocaust happened and called for the Jewish state to be “wiped off the map”.
The diplomatic tensions underscore the possibility of real conflict over Iran’s nuclear programme, which Israel — assumed to have to Middle East’s only atomic arsenal — describes as a threat to its existence. Iran denies having hostile designs.
“Sixty-five years after the end of the war, we have still not seen the last of the tyrants nor the last of those who think it is possible to liquidate the State of Israel,” Defence Minister Ehud Barak said in a speech to Israeli veterans of anti-Nazi partisan groups.
“Let us look to what has to be done, just as you did,” he said. “You went to the front to fight, and this is what we will continue to do.”
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4 comments so far
Dan,
Ahmadinejad never said he wanted Israel “wiped off the map”. Please stop peddling this myth. Johnathan Steele of the Guardian pointed out:
“The remarks are not out of context. They are wrong, pure and simple. Ahmadinejad never said them. Farsi speakers have pointed out that he was mistranslated. The Iranian president was quoting an ancient statement by Iran’s first Islamist leader, the late Ayatollah Khomeini, that “this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time” just as the Shah’s regime in Iran had vanished.
Full Article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/ 2006/jun/02/comment.usa
I wonder what kind of toll the Nakba and subsequent occupation has had on the demographic and social fabric of the Palestinian people. The systematic campaign by the IDF to liquidate the women and children all these years surely must have tipped the balance in Israel’s favor. But that’s Zionism for you
- Posted by Nu'man El-Bakriwhile the world once agains remembers one of the biggest acts of horror in history, it is important that we learn the lessons from this tragedy.is it justified for a country whose creation came from the result of the holocaust to carry out is own holocaust and run its own concentration camp in palestine?? why is that the majority of the israelis and jews who are against the occupation are children of holocaust survivors and victims? because unlike others who use the holocaust to carry out their own agendas, these heroic people have learned from history.
- Posted by hassanTo: Nu’man El-Bakri
Yep. There several translations for Ahmadinejad ‘message’. One of them: He meant to wipe out State of Israel while let Jews live in harmony with Palestinians in its place.
Thank you.
Jews often refer to themselves as “people of Israel” or “nation of Israel” or simple “Israel”. So don’t teach them how to read Ahmadinejad message.
Nakba toll…
1. Before 1946 Palestinian Arabs lived as separate villages/clans/tribes without any single self governing body. Jews community settled unused/acquired land with permission from Turks and Brits authorities. There were multiple small clashes between Arabs/Jews and Brits/Jews. Nothing on major scale compare to other bloody migrations of that time. So no Jews fault here…
2. 1946 UN talks. Palestinians Arabs cannot produce single representative. Partition was decided between Brits & Zionist leadership & few Palestinian Arabs. Arab countries Jordan/Syria/Egypt claim this land for themselves and sabotaged talks. Oppsss…
3. Wars…Until 1972 Palestinian Arabs didn’t engaged Israel directly as Arm force. All wars were fought between Israel and Egypt/Syria/Jordan. Palestinian militias were seen as partisans. Each Arab country saw Palestine+Israel as their integral part. Egypt/Jordan occupied (often brutally) Gaza/West Bank. So Egypt/Syria/Jordan should be blame for much of Palestinian problems.
4. Arab expelled ~800,000 Jews refugee from Arabs countries.
5. Syria/Jordan often reallocated Palestinian to refugee camps deep into their territory. That prevented many refugees from returning. Again until 1970’s Syria/Jordan/Egypt they saw Palestine+Israel as own territory!!!
Syria President Assad stated on March 8, 1974, “Palestine is a principal part of Southern Syria, and we consider that it is our right and duty to insist that it be a liberated partner of our Arab homeland and of Syria.”
5. Arabs kept Palestinians in camps under UN supervision rather let them work and integrate.
Nakba was result of Israel/Arab wars but Arabs fought them with little regards for Palestinians and now blame Israel for outcome.
- Posted by Sergeyeven if half the things that were stated by sergey were true, how does this justify any of the things that israel does today? it seems that everyone had a something to say about this region except the palestinains themselves. keep in mind, this whole concept was conducted by the british and french during “secret meetings”.only after everything was already planned for partitions and occupations did the arabs get on board and tried to grab whatever territory they could. and how does any of this justify the illegal settlements that continue today? how does this justify economic blockades and restrictions within palestinains territories? it doesn’t. the only israelis who favor these type of crimes are those who have an agenda. the majority of human rights groups within israel itself who are condemn israel’s actions and policies are those who are the children of the holocaust survivors and victims. for they are the people who know what it is liked to be locked up in cage. the others just exploit and use the holocaust for their own sick agendas.
- Posted by sidney