The total population of Jewish people in Germany in 1939 was approximately 600,000.
Posted by REAL AF with Andy Frisella, Checked
- Sources
- 4 contradict3 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 85%
REAL AF with Andy FrisellaOct 28, 2026
The claim that Germany's Jewish population in 1939 was about 600,000 is contradicted by multiple sources. The 1939 census and later estimates put the figure at roughly 200,000 to 330,000, and the 600,000 figure matches the 1933 population or a cumulative 1933–1945 count of persons, not the 1939 population.
What we found
Contradicts. The Avalon Project's Anglo-American Committee appendix gives the 1939 Jewish population of Germany as 215,000, noting that the 1933 census count of 499,682 had fallen to about 215,000 by September 1939.[1]
Contradicts. The USHMM article states that at the end of 1939 about 202,000 Jews remained in Germany, with 57,000 more in annexed Austria, which is far below 600,000.[2]
Contradicts. Holocaust.cz cites the May 1939 census as recording 330,892 people of Jewish faith in the German Reich including Austria, and says the Jewish population fell by 289,000 between 1933 and 1939.[3]
Contradicts. The German population-by-denomination table gives 222 thousand Jews in the German Reich (1937 borders) in 1939, down from 500 thousand in 1933.[4]
Context. The figure of about 600,000 appears in sources for 1933 (USHMM teacher resource) and for the cumulative number of Jewish persons residing in Germany at any time between 1933 and 1945 (Bundesarchiv list), not for the 1939 population.[5][6][7]
Sources
7 sources: 1 primary, 6 not rated
- 1Avalon Project - Anglo-American Committee of Inquiryavalon.law.yale.edu · primary source · cited for: contradicts
- 2German Jewish Refugees, 1933–1939encyclopedia.ushmm.org · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 3Jews and Jewish organisations under the swastika - Holocaust.czholocaust.cz · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 4[PDF] Population by Religious Denomination (1910-1939)germanhistorydocs.org · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 5Teacher Resources - United States Holocaust Memorial Museumushmm.org · not rated · cited for: context
- 6The list of Jewish Residents in the German Reich 1933-1945bundesarchiv.de · not rated · cited for: context
- 7G Startpagedn790008.ca.archive.org · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
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