The Holocaust - the Yellow Star: the Persecution of Jews... [DVD]

This was an excellent coverage of the atrocities initiated by the Nazi's against the Jewish
people, a reminder that should ensure that something like this can never happen again. A thorough research of this aspect of WW2 that would prove to be an invaluable resource for educational purposes.

For anyone interested in this part of our history there is so much one can learn about this horrific crime and the length of time it took for all the those people to endure such horror. It is still unbelievable & shocking. I just cannot imagine how it must have felt to be treated so cruelly and for so long. For those who knew, but did nothing for whatever reasons. I cannot help but ponder deeply on how I would have responded when put to the test, either as a victim or an on-looker. I would say now that I would be strong and resolute or brave and courageous, I just hope and pray that I am never, ever put to the test!

This programme, along with the series from which it comes, is a well made, informative and highly effective at the emotional level. Viewers will certainly gain a clear understanding of how badly the Jews were treated during WWII. As with most of these Holocaust programmes however, there is a major ommision which unbalances the whole way in which we look back today on those tragic events of some eighty years ago. This ommission is an explaination of how the Allied naval blockade/strategic bombing campaigns inadvertantly contributed to the occurence of these dreadful events.

Victory in the Napoleonic Wars won super-power status for the British Empire, which was underpinned and maintained by a Royal Navy strong enough to dominate the world's oceans/shipping lanes. This shrewd policy became ever more effective during the later Victorian Era as increasing industrialisation both concentrated populations and increased world trade. By using this naval power to sever the international trade of rivals, the British Empire could inflict widespread unemployment, industrial slump and even mass famine on those with whom she was in dispute at minimal cost.

BUT following unification in the 1860's, Germany had rapidly developed into an industrial powerhouse, capable of matching or even surpassing the British Empire. Many within Britain's governing class soon regarded Germany as a serious threat and increasingly British power was deployed to prevent/delay further growth by disrupting German trade. Considering this interference intolerable, Germany began a major shipbuilding programme remembered by history as 'The Naval Race' intended to counter Britain's influence but which, if successful would immediately have made the British Isles vunerable to similarly unwelcome German 'influence' simply by default. Thus mutual fear of artificially induced starvation led directly to the Anglo-German conflict of WWI, during which the central objective of the Royal Navy was to blockade/starve Germany into submission by preventing food, industrial supplies or raw materials from reaching either Germany or her allies. By 1918 this objective had been achieved and some 800,000 German civilians (Mostly the old, sick and young.) were dead or dying of starvation; a ghastly situation which brought about the collapse of morale which forced the Germans to sue for peace and ended the war.

At the outbreak of World War Two this British naval blockade was immediately reinstituted and despite the blitzkrieg victories in France, the clock began to tick once more for German occupied Europe. Eventually supply stockpiles would be exausted and Europe would again starve; the very scenario Kaiser Wilhelm had begun the pre-1914 naval race to avoid! This threat of impending famine was a major reason for Hitler's attack on Stalin's USSR, which if successful would have captured for Europe the breadbaskets of eastern Europe and western Russia; effectively removing for generations the greatest fear to dog Europe's political leaders since Europe's then burgeoning population had became dependant on food imports during the Victorian era.

With the failure of Operation Babarossa and the increasing strength of the Allied strategic bombing offensives; famine became a certainty, the only choice left to Europe's Nazi rulers was who would die first. As their navies strangled the European economy and their bomber fleets smashed the European industrial/transportation systems, were Churchill and Roosevelt really not able to guess who the Nazi leadership would ensure were first to suffer the effects? It should also be remembered that on a much smaller scale Hitler's U'boat blockade of Britain was said by Churchill to be the only thing which really frightened him, and came within a few weeks of achieving it's aim.