With Hitler gone, the Nazis are just another political party. When I read part of a translation of Mein Kampf, the strongest words I saw about the Jews were that they “must be eliminated.” To a developed world, being eliminated [from control] does not necessarily imply genocide. In fact, even these words were abridged from English translations in the thirties, and the same might happen in the German versions after enlightenment. If the Holocaust does not happen, Hitler’s hatred becomes a biographical footnote.
Jews will continue to endure anti-Semitism worldwide, as blacks endure Jim Crow until a civil rights movement comes along. The factors that drove civil rights and desegregation will happen in the “world without Hitler” for the same reasons they happened in OTL. When people are segregated so minorities have to ride in the back seats or “colored” rail cars, they tolerate the injustice because they still get to their destination. When the railroads cut their schedules or stop running, the result is intolerable because minorities in automobiles can’t get the food and lodging in towns along the road. Television and cinema make the disparities more painfully obvious.
In any case, any war or conflict in the thirties and forties would be very different, as it will not be run by a leader whose first priorities are to conquer Russia and execute Jews. Consider the millions of people who perished; the Jews, the Russians and all other casualties of war. Consider their potential contributions to a peacetime economy.
The best scenario is one where Germany (and the world), in the forties, move to consumer-based economic expansion similar to that which characterized the late fifties in the United States. This type of growth was directly responsible for the OTL civil rights movements. So, anti-Semitism becomes as unworkable as racial segregation. Even if certain technology (e.g., rocket science) is suppressed because there is less war or no war, enlightenment is inevitable. Imagine how different the world’s reaction would be to the atomic bomb if its first use was to open mountain passes or build canals.
Jews will continue to endure anti-Semitism worldwide, as blacks endure Jim Crow until a civil rights movement comes along. The factors that drove civil rights and desegregation will happen in the “world without Hitler” for the same reasons they happened in OTL. When people are segregated so minorities have to ride in the back seats or “colored” rail cars, they tolerate the injustice because they still get to their destination. When the railroads cut their schedules or stop running, the result is intolerable because minorities in automobiles can’t get the food and lodging in towns along the road. Television and cinema make the disparities more painfully obvious.
In any case, any war or conflict in the thirties and forties would be very different, as it will not be run by a leader whose first priorities are to conquer Russia and execute Jews. Consider the millions of people who perished; the Jews, the Russians and all other casualties of war. Consider their potential contributions to a peacetime economy.
The best scenario is one where Germany (and the world), in the forties, move to consumer-based economic expansion similar to that which characterized the late fifties in the United States. This type of growth was directly responsible for the OTL civil rights movements. So, anti-Semitism becomes as unworkable as racial segregation. Even if certain technology (e.g., rocket science) is suppressed because there is less war or no war, enlightenment is inevitable. Imagine how different the world’s reaction would be to the atomic bomb if its first use was to open mountain passes or build canals.