Before World War II

In 1933, Hitler and the Jewish League agreed to the Haavara Agreement in which, over time, German Jews and their finances could and would settle in Mandatory Palestine. Furthermore, the Havaara Mark was used instead of the Reichsmark, because of its lower interest rates, and it was seen as more favourable. By the end of the 30‘s, over 60000 German Jews had emigrated to Palestine.^[1] Following this, they discouraged emigration by restricting the amount of money Jews could take from German banks and imposed high emigrations taxes. The German government forbade emigration from the Greater Germanic Reich after October 1941. The German Jews who remained, about 163000 in Germany and less than 57000 from annexed Austria, were mostly elderly who were murdered in ghettos or taken to Nazi concentration camps, where most were murdered.^[2] Jews were able to leave Vichy France until the fall of 1942.^[3]

Although Jews could initially leave Nazi Germany with ease, it was difficult to find countries that would take them, particularly after the initial wave of immigrants in Europe, Britain, and the United States had been accepted.^[2] One of the reasons that emigration was so difficult was that it began during the Great Depression.^[1]

During World War II

Following the Anschluss, the annexation of Austria to Germany in 1938, and forced emigration deepened the refugee crisis, the Évian Conference was held in France to explore options for countries to emigrate to, but the key outcome of the conference was that it proved that forced emigration would not solve the problem.^[4] Another was a concern that there might be pro-Nazi spies among the refugees.^[3]

It was also difficult to get out of Europe. After the war started, there were few ships that left European ports. Lisbon was a neutral port, however, from which refugees could still travel.^[3]

At the time that Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933,^[5] there were about 523000 German Jews (<1 percent of the population) in the country.^[2] Subject to threats and persecution, Jews began to emigrate from that point until the start of World War II.^[2][5] In Austria, more than 50% of the Jews had left the country by May 1939, following Adolf Eichmann's program to force Jews to emigrate that began in the spring of 1938. Franz Mayer, a Jewish leader, said of Eichmann's system: "You put in a Jew at one end, with property, a shop, a bank account, and legal rights. He passed through the building and came out at the other end without property, without privileges, without rights, with nothing except a passport and order to leave the country within a fortnight; otherwise, he would find himself inside a concentration camp."^[4] By the end of 1939, there were more than 117,000 Jews who left Austria and more than 300,000 who left Germany. Most of them were trained in a particular field or college-educated. Generally, they were young in age.^[2][5]

Many of the 100000 people who found refuge in neighbouring European countries, like the Netherlands, Belgium, and France, were captured and murdered by the Nazis, after May 1940, when they invaded western Europe.^[2][1] As the Nazi regime occupied Czechoslovakia, beginning in 1938, and invaded Poland in 1939, there were more Jewish refugees.^[6]

Denmark

In October 1943, 7000 Danish Jews, and 700 of their relatives who were not Jewish, escaped Nazi-occupied Denmark for neutral Sweden, as was coordinated by the Danish resistance movement. They travelled to Malmö, Sweden across the Øresund Channel.^[7]

France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands

Many of the French, Luxembourgish, Belgian, and Dutch Jews were protected by their Country's resistances, hid in secret locations that were hard to find for the Nazis, and fled to the United Kingdom, Free France (Algeria), Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Canada, and the United States.^[8][9][10]

Norway

After the German occupation of Norway in 1940, some Norwegian Jews were able to find a safe haven in Sweden, which was neutral.^[7] However, over half of the Norwegian Jews were rounded up by Quisling regime police and handed over to the Reichskommissariat Norwegen.^[11]

Poland

Jews were prevented from leaving German-occupied Poland by the Schutzstaffel (SS).^[3] About 10% of the Polish Jewish population, together with 1 million Poles in total, were rounded up by the Russians and sent to Siberia in intolerable circumstances. Many died from harsh treatment at the hands of the Russians from 1939 and 1943 and onwards. Other Jews were spared harsh treatment, however, and some were trained in Moscow, so as to be fit to command a new Polish government after the war was over. Some of them were sent to remote areas of the Soviet Union, Siberia, or Central Asia.^[7]

Soviet Union

In June 1941 Germany invaded the Soviet Union and began the systematic extermination of Jews as part of Hitler's Final Solution plan, beginning with their removal to extermination camps. During The Holocaust in the Soviet Union, Jews who were unable to flee to the Asian parts of the country were methodically shot.^[7] By the end of the war, 67 percent of the Jews from Europe had been murdered.^[6]

Within Europe

Despite pressure from Germany, Fascist Italy protected Jewish people in lands that it occupied in Greece, France, Dalmatia, Croatia, and Yugoslavia, as well as protecting Jews in Tunisia, between mid-1942 and September 1943.^[7]

About 30000 Jews entered Portugal through Spain, and many sought passage in Lisbon on ships bound for the Americas. The refugees were assisted by French and American Jewish organizations. Most travelled between 1939 and 1941, and after Germans pressured the country to limit Jews ability to travel through their country, from 1942 to 1944 there were about 7,500 people who were admitted entry to Spain for Portugal. Spanish consuls also provided identity papers so that up to 5000 people could escape through other parts of Europe.^[7]

Sweden took in Jews from Norway and Denmark.^[7]

The Swiss took in nearly 30000 Jews, yet also turned away 20000 at their border.^[7]

Outside of Europe

Mandatory Palestine

Main article: Yishuv

The Zionist movement facilitated the rehabilitation of displaced Jews in Mandatory Palestine, which was a destination for 18000 Jews escaping the Nazi regime through the Balkans between 1937 and 1944. There were more than 16000 Jews who later were bound for Palestine on boats from the Romanian and Bulgarian ports on the Black Sea and often through Turkey for refueling. One ship, MV Struma, was sunk, presumably accidentally, by a Soviet Navy submarine, in what is referred to as the Struma disaster.^[7] The SS Dora, initially launched in 1898 as SS Vega, was used by Zionist organizations to transport 480 German Jewish refugees, landing in Palestine on 12 August 1939.^[13]

China

Main article: Shanghai Ghetto

Shanghai was an important safe-haven for Jewish refugees during the Holocaust, since it was one of the few places in the world that did not require a visa or travel documents.^[17]: 11 The chaos of Shanghai during the Second Sino-Japanese war also meant that there were no customs officials, and therefore refugees (and others) were able to simply pass by the customs house when they arrived in the city.^[17]: 11 Shanghai experienced its greatest influx of Jewish refugees from 1939 to 1941.^[17]: 55 The Jewish communities already existing in China (Baghdadi Jews from the British colonies and Ashkenazi Jews from Russia) welcomed refugees and already had institutions such as synagogues into which Jewish refugees could be incorporated.^[17]: 31

The Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum commemorates the experience of Jewish refugees.^[18] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the museum and praised Shanghai's historic role as a sanctuary for Jewish refugees.^[18]

Liberation by the Allies

In May 1945, European Jews were released from concentration camps or came out of hiding, to find that they had lost family members and their former homes. The population of displaced persons also included more than 150000 Jews who had left Central and Eastern Europe due to violence and anti-Semitism. Countries continued to resist taking in Jews, however.^[3] The most favourable destinations for the displaced Jews were Palestine and the United States; in the latter, President Harry S. Truman issued the "Truman Directive," on 22 December 1945, and up to 40000 Jews entered the United States by 1 July 1948. That year, a law was enacted by Congress that increased immigration quotas to allow in approximately 80000 Jews, who were subject to what Truman called "flagrantly discriminatory" entry qualifications. About 102000 forced labourers and other individuals from the Baltics and Eastern Europe, who were Christians, were also allowed to be admitted to the US.^[3] There were 137,450 Jewish refugees who settled in the United States between 1945 and 1952.^{[citation needed]}

Founding of the State of Israel

On 14 May 1948, the State of Israel was founded during the 1947–1949 Palestine war, and several million Jews emigrated from Europe and settled there.^[3][20][21]