I find it hilarious when people say "the Jews absolutely deserved a state after the holocaust, but it should've been in Poland or eastern Europe :(" (some even say Argentina, where several nazis fled to ahem) and it's like... sis... in what universe would Poles/Russians/Ukrainians/Lithuanians accept a Jewish state being carved out of their territories? How would the USSR agree to that? What magical social justice West would enforce that? It's a twee fantasy that contributes nothing to the convo.
The Jews would never have been safe there, which is why almost none of the survivors wanted to stay. Literally thousands of survivors were killed when trying to reclaim their houses in Poland, then in 1968 Poland banished just about all of the Jews left there. Neither half of Germany did fuck-all to prosecute ex-Nazis except when at American gunpoint.
The concept is explored in the alt-history novel "Judenstaat," by Simone Zelitch, where through Stalin's good graces instead of an East Germany there was a Jewish client state of the USSR set up instead. Their flag was a sick mirror of the Israeli flag, with a yellow star and striped pattern taken from the concentration camp uniforms.
https://www.tor.com/2016/05/19/excerpts-judenstaat-simone-zelitch/
