ABSTRACT
Within the framework of Holocaust studies, the topic of “bystanders of the Holocaust” refers to the approach and policies of the fi ve neutral countries of the European continent with regard to the plight of European Jewry during WWII. Compared with the more striking and critically important aspects of the Holocaust, the attitude of neutral countries has attracted less attention among Holocaust historians. Indeed, in Saul Friedlander’s extensive review on Holocaust studies, 1 “the attitudes of the governments of the neutral countries” and their “refugee policies” 2 take up no more than two short paragraphs. What is even more striking is that the review contains information, albeit brief, on each of four neutral countries, i.e., Sweden, Switzerland, Portugal, and Spain, but there is no mention whatsoever of Turkey, the fi fth neutral country.
