How many Germans emmigrated to America to escape the Nazis?

Question

A lot of you guys are making a really dumb mistake. You are confusing German refugees (Jews, intellectuals, other German people who were persecuted by the Nazis) with Nazi War Criminals. Many Nazis went to South America to escape arrest following the end of WWII. Not all Germans were Nazis.

The Nazis, like most dictatorships, were very cruel to many of their citizens. Anyone not of Aryan genetic descent, of a different political viewpoint, scientists who disagreed with some of the Nazis' scientific claims, even artists who didn't describe German soldiers as perfect and honourable, even the disabled, were threatened with loss of status, violence, and death. A great number of German people did not like the Nazis. Anyone who said anything bad about Hitler could be arrested. For these reasons thousands of German people emmigrated to America (and many other countries) to escape.

The Nazis, like most dictatorships, were very cruel to many of their citizens. Anyone not of Aryan genetic descent, of a different political viewpoint, scientists who disagreed with some of the Nazis' scientific claims, even artists who didn't describe German soldiers as perfect and honourable, even the disabled, were threatened with loss of status, violence, and death. A great number of German people did not like the Nazis. Anyone who said anything bad about Hitler could be arrested. For these reasons thousands of German people emmigrated to America (and many other countries) to escape.

The Nazis, like most dictatorships, were very cruel to many of their citizens. Anyone not of Aryan genetic descent, of a different political viewpoint, scientists who disagreed with some of the Nazis' scientific claims, even artists who didn't describe German soldiers as perfect and honourable, even the disabled, were threatened with loss of status, violence, and death. A great number of German people did not like the Nazis. Anyone who said anything bad about Hitler could be arrested. For these reasons thousands of German people emmigrated to America (and many other countries) to escape.

Answer 1

"...between 1933 and 1941, with assistance from private groups, as many as 200,000 immigrants from Nazi Germany reached American shores."

Answer 2

There was a lot of emigration in the years between the the two world wars, not only from Germany but from other countries where there were German-speaking people. A lot of these people left Europe for better economic opportunities. It is hard to tell how many were influenced by the deteriorating political situation. That depends on who they were. Poor farmers didn't see the same things as the city folks. Also some of the immigration was indirect. If they couldn't get into the U.S., some went to South America and came here later.

Answer 3

IF I understand your question correctly - "1890's Gay" provides you with a pretty good estimate. Most persons at risk prior to and during the War emigrated to other European countries where they thought they'd be safe - but were, inevitably, not. A wonderful exception was the Kindertransports to England. Most regular folks didn't have the cash to come here and we had VERY rigid quotas embarassingly designed to limit the number of German Jews allowed to enter the Country.
AFTER the War - lots of regular old Germans came - some being card-carrying Nazi officials - with our Government's approval and assistance. These would include those who could possibly benefit OUR Country in numerous ways (i.e. Werner von Braun.) Many Jews came then - of those who were left. Many more stayed in Europe as we still had rather strict policies, although these were loosened considerably as the horrors of the Camps were proven to be true.
Rotten Nazis who didn't have anything other than murdering on their resume veered South - Argentina actually encouraged them to go there. (Juan Peron, anyone?) Many of these guys, Himmler for example, were assisted by the Catholic Church and/or the International Red Cross.
Those "regular" Nazi Finks hesitated to do come here as they knew they would not be welcome if their history were known. We shipped a lot of them back, or, more prophetically I think, turned them over to the Israelis.
If you're in the U.S. - The Sound of Music is on at 8:00 pm Eastern. That's an example of a family which escaped Austria just after the Anschluss and wound up in, I think, Vermont. Captain von Trapp refused to fight for the Nazis and ran away from everything he had ever known, together with his family. The movie is a bit sappy, but IS based in fact. For example, he did NOT look like Christopher Plummer. (Too bad for HIM - or too bad for MARIA!)

Answer 4

About 95 000 German Jews emigrated to the US between 1933 and 1939. I'm not sure how many non-Jews, but I think there were far less who emigrated.

Answer 5

I'm not certain where you would find those statistics, but many Germans did as you say. Many more came over in the years preceding and following the war, so the numbers kinda blend together.

Answer 6

What are you talking about Nazis are German and it isn't the Germans that wanted to leave the Jewish people they were killing for just being Jewish. Of course not all Germans agreed with Hitler's reign or his dream of a totalitarian society of blonde blue eyed absolutly perfect human beings. The man was mad did he not realize that he did not fit into this generation he was trying to create.

Answer 7

Not that many really, most went to South American countries like Argentina and Brazil.

Answer 8

And how many nazis joined them later?

Answer 9

I think Einstein was one of them

Answer 10

16 men four women three cats and two dogs.