I also thought that Sephardim had it easier – until I talked to those who have both direct memory and historical knowledge. Not much love lost. And Sephardim proper ended up in Muslim lands only after being kicked out of Spain. Ashkenazim on the other hand moved to new lands volunteerly. The real answer is probably that there is no average experience. There were good and bad periods and aspects in different places. For example, Jews had unbelievable autonomy in polish lithuanian commonwealth via vaad arba artzos…
Also, we know more of history of arab countries than in 1950s:
Could you imagine if Jews of Aleppo stayed until islamic state and russian carpet bombing?
Also, destruction of european jewry didn’t start in 1939.. numerous communities were already destroyed by Soviet communists by that time at no fault of zionism