Page 98 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol III

holocaust 917

That was only the beginning—where one burns books, one will
finally also burn people. • Heinrich Heine (1797–1856)

temporarily separated the warring parties on either side
of the seventeenth parallel until elections scheduled for Holocaust
1956. In the north was the DRV under President Ho; in
the south were the French, from which emerged the rior to the mass slaughter of European Jews by the
Republic of Vietnam under Ngo Dinh Diem (1901– PNazis during World War II, commonly known as the
1963). In the north was the Democratic Republic of Holocaust, German dictator Adolf Hitler made no secret
Vietnam (DRV) under President Ho; in the south of his intentions.Writing in prison in 1924, he laid out
emerged the Republic of Vietnam (RVN), inaugurated his anti-Semitic views in the book Mein Kampf, and he
on 23 October, 1955, under Ngo Dinh Diem (1901– began to act on them after coming to power in 1933.
1963) who refused to hold the 1956 reunification elec- Though great effort was ultimately devoted to concealing
tions as stipulated by the Geneva Accords. With the the murder of Jews in concentration camps, Hitler repeat-
United States’ intervention, the Second Indochina War edly spoke publicly about his plans, predicting in January
(1960–1973) plungedVietnam deeper into bloody and 1939, for example, the “extermination of the Jewish race
destructive conflict. The Communist forces continued in Europe” in the event of war.
the combat with the U.S.-sponsored southern regime, Despite Hitler’s openness about his objective, few
which the DRV considered illegitimate. Until his death people inside or outside Germany took his words seri-
on 2 September 1969, Ho Chi Minh was able to keep ously. After all, Germany was regarded as one of the
the DRV focused on carrying on the struggle. His sta- world’s most civilized nations, and Jews were among its
ture acquired legendary proportions, and he became most prominent citizens. It therefore came as a shock
known as Bac Ho or “Uncle Ho” among supporters. Ho when a boycott against Jewish businesses was initiated
Chi Minh came to symbolize the Vietnamese determi- early in 1933.
nation to resist, and his name was chanted repeatedly in Gradually, the persecution of Jews in Germany esca-
antiwar marches in the 1960s and 1970s in the West lated, culminating in the adoption of the Nuremberg
and in Third World countries. Ho Chi Minh was deft in Laws in 1935.These laws excluded Jews from all public
steering the DRV through the shoals of Communist business life and denied them the right to vote or hold
rivalry that pitted the Soviet Union against China dur- public office. Later, professionals such as doctors were
ing the Sino-Soviet crisis while managing to obtain vital stripped of their licenses. The Law for the Protection of
economic, financial, and military aid from both. His German Blood and German Honor prohibited the mar-
final wishes were that his ashes be deposited in the three riage of Jews to non-Jews. Other bans prevented Jews
regions of Vietnam, but he was embalmed and remains from using the same facilities as non-Jews. In 1937, the
in state at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi. Nazis began to confiscate Jews’ possessions. Jewish chil-
dren were expelled from school, Jews were banned from
Nguyen Thi Dieu
cultural and sporting events, and limits were place on
See also French Empire; Revolutions, Communist what Jews could do in public.
The prohibitions were devised, implemented, and
Further Reading enforced by a bureaucracy devoted to the “Jewish ques-
Duiker,W. (2000). Ho Chi Minh. New York: Hyperion. tion.” Virtually every government institution contributed
Minh, H. C. (1994). Selected writings. Hanoi, Vietnam: The Gioi to the Nazi anti-Jewish policies. Among the most impor-
Publishers.
Minh, H. C. (2002). Prison diary. New York: Ross & Perry. tant were the Press and Propaganda Ministry, which fed
Quinn-Judge, S. (2003) Ho Chi Minh: The missing years. Berkeley and the German people a steady stream of anti-Semitic prop-
Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Tin, B. (1999). Following Ho Chi Minh. Honolulu: University of Hawaii aganda.The result was the dehumanization of Jews to the
Press. point where ordinary citizens were willing to persecute