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71 Applying various forms of pressure in order to undermine confidence in the enemy’s home front, shaking its morale, destroying its economic infrastructure to punish or deter— such tactics resembled those applied during the war itself. The warring sides in the Second World War merely perfected most of these methods but did not invent them. These included: destruction of the economic infrastructure and blockades; striking at industrial complexes, transport facilities, and civilian populations; threatening prisoners and hostages with bodily harm; and announcing trials and severe punishment once the war was over. The Nazis had no compunction about using any or all of these methods both before and during the war. An outstanding example was the blitzkrieg against Britain; even Tel Aviv was under threat of bombing by the Axis powers. The Nazis’ considered their (ultimately unsuccessful ) attempt to develop V-2 missiles and launch them against civilian populations in Britain an important strategic move. Aerial bombing, especially of civilian populations , was one method used by the Allies to undermine the ability and will of their adversaries to fight, as well as a means of punishment and deterrence . Outstanding examples include the bombing of Dresden and the destruction of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by atomic bombs. Among the central issues in the present discussion is the fact that the Allies could have announced that the bombing of enemy cities also constituted punishment for the treatment of the Jews and could have threatened to keep up the bombing until the annihilation ceased. Another issue is that the Allies could have stopped the annihilation by bombing and destroying the enemy ’s death camps and the roads, bridges, and railway tracks leading to them. As soon as the Jews in Palestine, the United States, and the rest of the free world were aware of the situation in Europe, the question became how to put an end to the extermination through sabotage. One suggestion was to bomb the camps or the roads leading to them. This could have taken the form of straightforward bombing of specific targets, or the camps could have been included in larger bombing operations involving important military objectives. Such an operation could have been included in the “small rescue,” which involved operations aimed at improving the Jews’ chances of surviving Nazi persecution, as opposed to the “large rescue,” whose objective was to free them from Hitler’s clutches. SHOULD WE DEMAND BOMBING? LATE 1942–LATE 1943 After they razed the Bohemian village of Lidice, the Nazis were warned by Roosevelt (June 1942). Roosevelt and Churchill jointly issued a further warning after the Nazis murdered hostages in France, with Churchill threatening revenge for the Nazis’ use of poison gas. These warnings had nothing to do with the plight of the Jews, notwithstanding the fact that it had been common knowledge since the summer of 1942 that the Jews were victims of a particularly gruesome form of persecution. Even before the Yishuv officially announced thatEurope’sJewswerebeingsystematicallyannihilated , Richard Lichtheim of the Jewish Agency in Switzerland asked for warnings to be issued to the Nazis—or at least to their satellites—that they would be punished for persecuting Jews. LichtheimappendedthisappealtohisfirstrevelationsfromGenevaregardingthemurders .InSeptember1942theLondonbranchoftheWorldJew ish Congress also appealed to the rest of the world to warn the Nazis.1 9 Bombing to Deter and Stultify In the summer of 1942 a number of direct warnings were issued to the satellite countries by General Wladyslaw Sikorski, former prime minister and head of the Polish government-in-exile; Shmuel Zygelboym, Bund representative on the Polish National Council, a parliament in-exile; and Cardinal Arthur Hinsley, archbishop of Westminster, against persecuting Jews or collaborating with others who persecuted Jews. Cardinal Hinsley broadcast a speech, specifically aimed at Roman Catholics, denouncing the persecution of Jews. In another radio broadcast Professor Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy, prime minister of the Dutch government-in-exile, also condemned the expulsion of Jews from Holland.2 More specific, practical suggestions were also proposed. In June 1942 General Sikorski demanded that Churchill order the confiscation of German property and intensive bombing raids on nonmilitary targets inside Germany to “pay back for German cruelty.” Vyacheslav Molotov, the Soviet foreign minister, declared that his country would try all Nazi leaders for war crimes, and the Soviet Union established a special international court for this purpose.3 The necessity for pressure to be applied to Germany and its allies was discussed repeatedly in the JAE, the National Council, Mapai, and other Yishuv political bodies as soon as...

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