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Encyclopaedia Judaica

Jews in Germany 04: WW I and inflation times

Jewish victims in WW I - Communist revolution with leading Jews - Weimar constitution of Hugo Preuss - Jewish welfare organizations - inflations - influx from eastern Europe - integration question

presented by Michael Palomino (2008)

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from: Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Germany, vol. 7
from: Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): History, vol. 8


<1914-1933.

The history of German Jewry in the interwar period is sharply divided into two chapters: the period up to 1933, which was a time of great prosperity; and the period which began in 1933, a year which was to mark the beginning of the tragic end of German Jewry. (Germany, col. 482)

[First World War - Communist revolutionary movement with Jewish cliques - Weimar constitution by Hugo Preuss - Jews in high positions]

Over 100,000 Jews had served in the German army during World War I, and 12,000 Jews fell in battle [[and thousands of German Jews were awarded on all sides of the war]]. At the end of the war, when the monarchy had fallen and a democratic republic was established, it seemed that the Jews had achieved full emancipation. Any restrictions that were still in force were abolished by the Weimar Republic, and Jews could not participate in every sphere of public life. Their share and influence in the political life of the country reached unprecedented proportions. Many of the leaders of the democratic and socialist parties were Jews, as were two of the six "people's commissars" which made up the first post-revolutionary German government (O. *Landsberg and H. *Haase).

In Bavaria, Jews played an even more significant role; the head of the revolutionary government was a Jew, Kurt *Eisner, and the majority of the Soviet-type government set up after Eisner's murder consisted of Jewish intellectuals (Eugen *Leviné, Gustav *Landauer, Ernst *Toller, etc.). The inquiry commission which was to determine the responsibility of the military leadership for Germany's defeat had among its members Oscar *Cohn, a Social Democrat and [[racist]] Zionist. The Weimar Constitution was drafted by a Jew, Hugo *Preuss; another Jew, Walter *Rathenau, first became minister of reconstruction and later foreign minister; his murder by young extremists was motivated largely by anti-Semitism.

[[The extreme presence of Jews in the Communist movement and above all the Weimar Constitution which was named a "Jewish" product lead to easy general agitation against the Jews in the Weimar republic]].

Several Jews were appointed to high positions in the civil service, especially in Prussia. The rise of Jews to positions of political power, added to their economic and social advance, increased hostility among the population, and facilitated the growth of the Nazi movement. Anti-Semitic propaganda exploited a series of financial scandals and bankruptcies in which Jews were involved. The background (Germany, col. 483)

to these events was the great social and economic crisis which gripped Germany as a result of the terrible inflation after the war. (Germany, col. 484)

[Jewish welfare and Jewish organizations since 1917]

In 1917 a central welfare bureau for German Jewry was set up, the *Zentralwohlfahrtsstelle [[central welfare office]], whose membership consisted of the communities as well as of many private institutions, trusts, and societies. The bureau cooperated with the main non-Jewish welfare agencies in the country, as well as with the *American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, and published its own monthly. It supervised hospitals, clinics, counseling centers, bureaus, and a variety of other public institutions, and had some 2,000 welfare agencies affiliated with it. (Germany, col. 485)

In addition to the organizations based on the communities, there were also a large number of other societies, as well as cultural and scientific institutions. Jewish life in general was marked by the struggle between Jewish nationalism and various degrees of assimilation. [[Racist]] Zionism succeeded in revolutionizing the life of the communities, and the councils, in addition to "notables", now also contained democratically elected members who represented national-Jewish interests.

The following were the main organizations of German Jewry in the period:
-- Centralverein (C.-V.) deutscher Staatsbuerger juedischen Glaubens ("Central Organization of German Citizens of the Jewish Faith")
-- Zionistische Vereinigung fuer Deutschland (Z.V.f.D.; "Zionist Organization of Germany")
-- Hilfsverein der deutschen Juden ("Aid Society of German Jews")
-- the religious organizations - Agudat Israel, Ahdut (Aḥdut), *Vereinigung fuer das liberale Judentum [[Liberal Jewry Association]]
-- *B'nai B'rith
-- *Verband national-deutscher Juden ("Union of Jews of German Nationality")
-- *Reichsbund juedischer Frontsoldaten ("Reich Association of Jewish War Veterans")
-- the various rabbinical associations, and associations of teachers and cantors; etc.

An important role in the cultural life of German Jewry was played by the academic organizations:
-- *Kartell-Convent (K.-C.) deutscher Studenten juedischen Glaubens ("National Fraternity of German Students of the Jewish Faith"), affiliated to the Centralverein
-- Bund juedischer Akademiker (B.J.A. [[Jewish Academic Association]], an association of Orthodox academics)
-- Kartell juedischer Verbindungen [[Jewish Connection Cartell]], the [[racist]] Zionist student organization.

A substantial number of Jewish youth in Germany were members of Jewish youth movements. Some of the youth organizations were sponsored by the Centralverein, and others by the Orthodox; a third type were the [[racist]] Zionist youth organizations. The latter encouraged pioneer settlement in Erez Israel (Ereẓ Israel), maintained training centers, and supplied a (Germany, col. 486)

small but steady flow of immigrants. The Centralverein was the largest and most important organization, which published its own newspaper. It advocated a synthesis of Judaism and "Germanism", emphasized defense of Jewish civil rights, and regarded German Jewry as an integral part of the German people. Other periodicals were
-- Der *Israelit [[The Israeli]] (published by Agudat Israel)
-- Juedisch-liberale Zeitung [[Jewish Liberal News]]
-- Der Schild [[The Shield]] (published by the veterans' organization)
-- Der *Jude, [[The Jew]] a [[racist]] Zionist monthly, edited by Martin *Buber; and
-- Der Morgen [[The Morning]], a monthly published by the Centralverein.

The official organ of the [[[racist]] Zionist movement, *Juedische Rundschau, a weekly (which in its last years appeared twice a week), eventually became the leading Jewish paper published in Germany. (Germany, col. 487)


[Jewish influx from eastern Europe]

Even in the best years of the Weimar Republic the Jewish problem had not really been solved. Socially and spiritually the German people had not absorbed the Jews. Even the assimilationists among the Jews had to acknowledge this fact, and some reacted by over-emphasizing their German nationalism, thereby hoping to set themselves apart from the rest of the Jews. As a result of the large increase of Jewish immigration from eastern Europe, the old difference between "Eastern" and "Western" Jews became much more pronounced and had many practical implications.

Jewish organizations did their best to facilitate the absorption of the newcomers and created special institutions (Germany, col. 484)

for this purpose, such as the Welfare Bureau for Jewish Workers. (Germany, col. 485)

After World War I, when many Hebrew writers and publishers fled from Russia and took refuge in Germany, the country became a center of Hebrew publishing and Hebrew literature. Some of the greatest Hebrew poets and writers became residents of Germany, and Hebrew publishing houses were established. This was in addition to the many books published in German, on Judaism, [[racist Herzl]] Zionism, and Jewish studies. In Berlin and (Germany, col. 487)

Breslau, the [[racist]] Zionist Organization founded schools for the study of modern Hebrew by adults and the youth. In 1920 Franz *Rosenzweig established the Freies Juedisches Lehrhaus ("Free Institute of Jewish Learning") in Frankfort, and it gained great prestige. Other cultural institutions were
-- the Juedische Volkshochschule ("Jewish College of Adult Education")
-- the Toynbee-Halls, which also served as centers of social work;
-- and the Juedisches Volksheim (Jewish Social Center) established in Berlin in 1916.

There were Jewish elementary schools in several communities and Jewish teachers' seminaries in Wuerzburg and Cologne. There were also Jewish secondary schools, originally maintained by Orthodox Jews only, but in later years also supported by the [[racist]] Zionists. (Germany, col. 488)

[Rise of anti-Semitism]

<At the end of World War I there was a rise in anti-Semitism. The defeat of Germany in war was explained by the myth, propagated by extreme right-wing elements, that circulated after 1918 of the "stab in the back" that the victorious [[racist kaiser]] German army had received from revolutionaries, pacifists, and intellectuals under the influence of the cowardly "Jewish spirit", as opposed to the heroic and creative "German spirit";

[[Pacific and Communist Jewish circles had organized an ammunition strike - and by this the German army had been without ammunition at the front and had to give up the war in France. Racist kaiser did not want a civil war and could not do anything. The "Germanizers" of racist kaiser Germany got a defeat and mostly Jewish Communist leaders in the world played their extreme destructive role also in Germany until 1933...]]

such accusations [[the generalization is wrong, but that the Communists were Jewish circles is right]], combined with resentment at Jewish commercial and financial activity in Germany during the great inflation of the early 1920s there, reinforced the old stereotype evil image of the Jews. Fuel was added to the old hatred by the preeminence of Jews in many scientific fields, and, even more, their activity on the (History, col. 736)

liberal and left-wing side of German politics (Walther *Rathenau, minister for foreign affairs of the German republic, was assassinated in 1922; Kurt *Eisner, head of the socialist republic of Bavaria in 1918, and Rosa *Luxemburg, as the symbol of left-wing socialism, were murdered).> (History, col. 737)

[[In the Weimar Republic criminals had more rights than the honest people. This was one of the big reasons that many Germans could not accept any "democratic" structure, and not at all the stupid Communists with their unrealistic Jewish circles. There were more reasons to hate the Weimar Republic like the robbery of all colonies by the racist "democratic" Empire states (France and England), like the debts question for the World War which was never solved, like the robbery of industries and coal mines in the Saarland etc. Add to this there was hyper inflation organized by striking industrialists and stupid German and French government fighting about the Ruhr Basin. By all this the rightist press found the eastern Jews as a compensation for propaganda against Jewry. After all, there was no reason for the German population to trust into a "democracy"]].


[1923]

[[Racist German industrialists were supporting the hyper inflation of 1923. They got rid of their depth and at the same time the Jewish constitution of Weimar was put into question. The inflation was a big German racist manipulation. Germans and Jews were hit by the economic crisis, but the Jews had the welfare organizations which caused envy on the German side]].

Right-wing circles in Germany, anxious to divert public attention from the real beneficiaries of inflation - the "pure Aryan" industrial and financial barons and their giant enterprises - were more than ready to use the anti-Jewish propaganda for their purposes. The middle class, heavily hit by the economic upheaval, the nobility and the officer class who felt their honor besmirched by the defeat [[of 1918]] and whose privileges were abolished in the revolution [[of 1919, and by the Treaty of Versailles of 1919]], were all easily swayed by the idea that it was the Jews who were to blame for all of Germany's misfortunes - that "the Jews had stabbed the undefeated German army in the back", and thus forced it to surrender;

[[there had been an ammunition production strike by the Communists which hindered ammunition transports to the front so the German front was without ammunition at the end. Because of the Jewish leaders in the Communist party the Jews were generally blamed having caused the German defeat of 1918. This indication is missing in the article of course. The general blame of the Jews is also wrong because many Jews came also into poverty after 1923 and after 1929]].

that Capitalism and "Marxism" (i.e., Bolshevism and Socialism)were the result of the machinations of "World Jewry". In the 1920s, however, the full implications of this anti-Semitic mood had not yet become apparent, and the situation of the Jews seemed satisfactory. (Germany, col. 484)

[1925 census and professions]

According to the 1925 census, there were 564,379 Jews in Germany, representing 0.9% of the total population. One-third lived in Berlin, another third in the other large cities, while the remaining third lived in 1,800 different places with organized Jewish communities and another 1,200 places where there were no organized communities. Most of the Jews made their living in commerce and transportation and in the liberal professions; in the large cities, one-third or even more of the lawyers and doctors were Jews; they also played a prominent role in the press, in literature, in the theater, and in other forms of entertainment. In general, the Jews belonged do the middle class and were well off. Although many had lost their savings in the inflation, they recovered from the effects of this crisis. (Germany, col. 485)

The absorption of Jews into all spheres of German life was accompanied by record numbers of mixed marriages and conversions; in the period 1921-27, 44.8% of all Jewish marriages were mixed, conversions took place at the rate of 500 annually, and a similar number of Jews formally "dissociated" themselves from the community. (Germany, col. 485)

COMMUNAL ORGANIZATION.

[Jews from eastern Europe - the "foreigners" - national union of Jewish communities - collaborating agencies and organizations]

Between the two World Wars, the Jewish communities presented a model of organization. The Weimar Constitution retained official recognition of the Jewish communities as entities recognized by public law and their right to collect dues. In general, a Jewish community had a representative body, elected by the community members, and an executive committee, elected in turn by the representative body and consisting of three to seven members. A point under dispute was the voting rights of Jews of foreign nationality (the Ostjuden [[Jews from eastern Europe]), who in some communities amounted to a substantial proportion of the total membership. Although the "foreigners" had equal rights to the religious and social services provided by the community, in many places they had no right to vote, or were given that right only after long years of local residence. In the various states of which the Reich was made up, there existed "state unions" of Jewish communities.

For a long time the need was felt for a national union of Jewish communities, but there were differences of opinion as to the form this should take; some thought that it should be a union of individual communities, others preferred a national union of the state unions, while a third proposal called for a kind of Jewish parliament, elected by direct democratic vote (the last plan was supported by the [[racist]] Zionists) [[with the aim of a "Greater Israel" from the Nile to the Euphrates, see 1st Mose, chapter 15, phrase 18]].

By the time a national union was finally established, shortly before Hitler came to power, the organizational form of the communities, and the tasks they faced, were about to undergo a radical change. Apart from the religious and cultural tasks they performed, the community organizations were most active in social welfare; this was true of the period preceding 1933, and became even more important after that turning point. (Germany, col. 485)

In the large communities expenditure on welfare amounted to as much as 30% of the total budget. Agencies concerned with youth, and with immigrants passing through Germany on their way overseas, also played an (Germany, col. 485)

important role. (Germany, co. 486)

Despite differences of outlook, there was close cooperation between the various organizations. An outstanding example was the establishment of the *Keren Hayesod in Germany in 1922 which was based on cooperation between [[racist]] Zionists and non-Zionists, and served as a preliminary stage to the enlarged *Jewish Agency (1929). The [[racist]] Zionist Organization included  Zionist party organizations (Mizrachi, *Poalei-Zion, *Hapo'el ha-Zair-Hitahdut, etc.). (Germany, col. 487)

[1929: stock exchange collapse and rise of the NSDAP]

[[Then came the stock exchange collapse of 1929 and only since then the NSDAP had a significant part of votes. The industrialists did not do anything, and the German government was elected almost every year because it was not possible to govern any more under the conditions with a big Communist fraction on one side and with a big Nazi fraction on the other side. The racist industrialists wanted to have the Nazi government which gave them more rights and less democracy for the workers. Germans and Jews were hit by the economic crisis, but the Jews had the welfare organizations which caused again envy on the German side]].

<[Intellectual achievement of German Jews - eastern Jews - inner tensions]
Up to 1932 German Jewry was in the forefront of intellectual achievement and the acquirement of free professions, though it never achieved the type of social acceptance found in other western societies. In Germany too the development was away from the crafts and petty trade to academic professions, medium and large scale business enterprises, and public service. German Jewish society experienced during this period a certain undercurrent of tension between its acculturated strata and the "Ostjuden" [["eastern Jews"]], who, whether as immigrants or as transients, caused some offense by their culture and way of life, in particular through fear of the "bad impression" they could make on cultured good Germans.> (History, col. 736)

It was not until 1933, when the Nazis came to power and based their program upon the "doctrine of race" - i.e., hatred of Jews - that the role of the Jewish problem for the internal historical development of Germany stood fully revealed. (Germany, col. 484)

[[The NSDAP never had a majority. Hitlers manipulations which mostly were financed from abroad were leading his party to an absolute power, above all after the liquidation of the Socialists (SPD). The Jews and other races should be exterminated slowly by separation of all men and women and forced labor]].

When the Nazis came to power, there was again a great deal of capital in the hands of individual Jews and the Jewish communities. (Germany, col. 485)

[[About the crash of the stock exchange in 1929 is nothing reported in this article. The most important elements for the rise of the Nazi party in Germany - the collapse of the worldwide stock exchange and the wide unemployment - are not mentioned in the Encyclopaedia Judaica article of "Germany". Add to this it was the coward German police which let Hitler's gangs do their "work". Principally Hitler was an Austrian, a criminal foreigner which could have been removed to Austria easily. But the coward German police of Weimar did not do so..]]
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Sources
Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Germany, vol.
                      7, col. 481-482
Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Germany, vol. 7, col. 481-482
Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Germany, vol.
                      7, col. 483-484
Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Germany, vol. 7, col. 483-484
Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Germany, vol.
                      7, col. 485-486
Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Germany, vol. 7, col. 485-486
Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Germany, vol.
                      7, col. 487-488
Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Germany, vol. 7, col. 487-488
Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): History, vol.
                      8, col. 735-736
Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): History, vol. 8, col. 735-736
Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): History, vol.
                      8, col. 737-738
Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): History, vol. 8, col. 737-738





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