The Logic Off Topic list

GAmoore@... writes:
>I wonder why the Jews didn't go back to Europe after WWII. The Nazis were
>defeated. There was a land that needed rebuilding where they spoke the
>language and owned land and businesses. 
wow; on a very basic level, i find myself somewhat stunned by your 
(?studious?) naiveté, here.....

some folks *did* go back; go figure --- i wouldn't have, and certainly 
neither side of my family did.
my own forebears from this period were (nominally) german / lithuanian / 
rumanian jews & rom --- the majority of both sides of my family -jews & 
gypsies, alike- were decimated;
those few who attempted escape did so (w/varying degrees of success) to 
canada, france, belgium..... and a very few made it into the usa.

but, why *would* they go back to what were once their 'homes'?, when:
a) they had nothing left, there, & there were certainly no welcoming arms,
b) they hadn't been allowed 'citizenship' in germany until the late 1800's, & 
then only when they accepted government-issued last names which clearly 
marked them as 'outsiders' --- even those who were 'culturally assimilated',
c) most of them had been hounded from place-to-place in the region for 
generations-upon-generations, and
d) there was the promise of a 'new beginning', somewhere?
hmmmm.


>Why go to some distant place and kick some other people out of their homes?
a) this 'distant place' is where the jews came from;
they had, indeed, no real (multi-generational) homes in western europe, and 
some families had not been away from the levant for very long.
b) to oversimplify, here; the brits offered what was purportedly 'their' land 
to the jews --- a core of jews had already established themselves as 
settlers, there, struggling and *building* a communal/democratic society for 
some time.
c) i think that there was no question of 'kicking people out of their homes', 
then: the jews were offered lands that were, critically, unwanted --- ie, 
very *difficult* to 'work'.

i'm sure that my partially-informed opinion is not of very much value, 
though, when there are *hundreds* of authoritative books and articles 
available on this intensely complex subject --- if you're truly curious, 
there is a wealth of materials available for your edification.
best,
splattercell